Iran, EU, US in talks on nuclear program
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 18:57:00 07/19/2008
GENEVA, Switzerland -- Iranian, European, and United States officials began talks Saturday in a bid to resolve the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.
The EU's diplomatic chief Javier Solana posed for the cameras with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva before beginning talks along with US Undersecretary of State William Burns.
It is the first time that Washington has directly taken part in face-to-face talks with the Iranians on the nuclear issue.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday said the decision to send Burns showed that Washington was "very serious" about diplomatic efforts despite the Bush administration's often harsh tone against Iran.
"This decision to send Undersecretary Burns is an affirmation of the policy that we have been pursuing with our European allies...for some time now," Rice said.
"It is, in fact, a strong signal to the entire world that we have been very serious about this diplomacy and we will remain very serious about this diplomacy."
Washington has long said it will not negotiate with Iran until it first suspends uranium enrichment and insisted that Burns was traveling to Geneva to listen to Iran's response and not negotiate.
Nonetheless, it will be the first time that the United States, which severed relations with Iran in 1980 after the Islamic revolution, will be present in the negotiations aimed at persuading Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment.
Western countries suspect that Iran is secretly trying to develop the atomic bomb and the United Nations has slapped several sets of sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt enrichment.
Iran vehemently denies seeking nuclear weapons, insisting that its program is designed to provide energy for its growing population for the time when its reserves of fossil fuels run out.
Jalili on Friday expressed optimism that the weekend talks would be constructive, provided Washington came with the right approach.
"What is important for us is with what approach they come to the talks. If it is with a constructive approach, and that they refrain from past mistakes, then for sure we will have constructive talks," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency before leaving Tehran for Geneva.
Jalili, who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is accompanied on this trip by Ali Bagheri, the council's deputy head in charge of international affairs.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday said he hoped the talks would create a "framework for negotiations" to end the nuclear crisis.
"I hope that today's talks will lead to a framework for negotiations," he said, according to the websites of Iranian state broadcasting and Arabic-language channel Al-Alam.
"We hope that in today's talks a modality and framework that satisfies both sides is compiled," Mottaki added, on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran.
He did not give further details on what steps this framework would involve.
Also present at the Geneva talks will be representatives from the rest of the P5 plus one group: Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- and Germany.
On Thursday, Solana and Burns met in Brussels in preparation for the weekend talks.
"Mr. Solana told Mr. Burns that his participation could only have a positive impact," said EU spokeswoman Cristina Gallach. "We hope the Iranians are going to understand the importance of this decision" to attend.
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