US diplomat to attend Iran talks

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"An envoy from the US will attend weekend talks with Iran and other major powers over Tehran's nuclear programme.

The announcement on Tuesday that William Burns, the US under-secretary of state, is to attend a meeting in Geneva with Saeed Jalili, Iranian nuclear negotiator, is a switch in position for the US.

Burns will join Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, and envoys from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany, at the meeting, due on Saturday.

They will discuss Iran's response to an offer made by world powers last month to give up nuclear work that the West believes is aimed at building an atomic bomb and Tehran says is for peaceful power-generation purposes.

Washington said that Burns would not act as a negotiator and not meet Jalili separately.

He is to put forward the White House position that Iran must give up enrichment for any talks to start.

The US had said previously it would not be involved in any pre-negotiations with Tehran unless it gave up uranium enrichment."

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Iran and US eye diplomatic opening

<snip>

"After last week's show of force by Iran, now there are growing signs that both Iran and the United States want to do some serious talking about the nuclear crisis. After the harsh rhetoric and the threats, it is a critical moment for diplomacy.

Washington has shown it means business by agreeing to send the Under-Secretary of State, William Burns, to Geneva to join talks between the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili on Saturday.

It is a major shift by the Bush administration, and the Iranians will understand that.

Earlier this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he was interested in direct talks with the US.

He also said Iran was interested in an idea being floated in Washington - to open a US diplomatic mission in Tehran for the first time since the revolution.

In intriguing comments in a television interview on Monday night, Mr Ahmadinejad said he expected "something may happen soon" in US-Iranian relations."

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[LeftishBrit]

1. Hope something comes of this...

Diplomacy is much better than war.

[bdamomma]

2. I still believe Iran is enriching uranium for establishing nuclear power

which they should keep on doing, but this filthy administration we have is setting them up for a confrontation we all know, and even if they said they would stop enriching uranium these filthy pigs we have would still invade their country for the oil. Does anyone else sense the same thing?

[razors edge]

3. Yeh, I think I saw this movie before.

Doesn't Bill Kristol come on the TV and tell us how glorious and necessary it all is, and that the oil will pay for the reconstruction?

Can't remember the ending though.

[Howardx]

4. why is this in i/p?

curious.

[Scurrilous]

5. Report: U.S. to station diplomats in Iran for first time since 1979

<snip>

"The United States intends to station diplomats in Iran for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which saw a severence of ties between the two countries, The Guardian reported on Thursday.

The move would be a step in the direction of setting up a full embassy in Iran, a dramatic political shift for the Bush administration, which has spent the last few years guiding international pressure on Tehran over its contentious nuclear program.

The Guardian report comes a day after the U.S. announced plans to send a senior envoy to meet with a senior Iranian representative to discuss Iran's nuclear program, an announcement met with concern in Israel.

"There is a bad feeling in Israel and dissatisfaction with the U.S. move," Israel told senior Washington officials, according to a source in Jerusalem. "There can be no concession on the demand to end uranium enrichment as a precondition to negotiating with Iran," Israel added.

UN Security Council members, Germany and the European Union have been holding regular meetings with Iranian representatives, and U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns, considered No. 3 in the State Department, will be participating for the first time."

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