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Iran agrees date for nuclear talks in move welcomed by US
2009-09-14
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran agreed on Monday to hold talks with six world powers next month on its latest proposals to allay concerns over its nuclear programme, in a move Washington welcomed as an "important first step." EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana spoke by telephone with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and they agreed that talks would be held on October 1 between Iran and representatives of the six powers. "Iran is ready for a serious dialogue in October," Jalili said. "This morning we reached an agreement with the Iranians to hold a meeting on October 1," Solana's spokeswoman said. A European diplomatic source said the talks will probably take place in Europe. Washington welcomed Tehran's agreement to have talks with the six governments -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the six will have a chance to present a "united front" and that they would push for more transparency from Iran. "We are united in this common goal of getting the... the Iranians to introduce more transparency into their nuclear programme," Kelly told reporters in Washington. "We have an opportunity here to present a united front... to show that the international community wants them to abandon... any plans they have for a militarisation of their nuclear programme," he said. Earlier US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog in Vienna, told reporters: "Let's say it's an important first step and one hopes for the best." The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, said in Vienna that Tehran was ready to field questions about its atomic programme, but will not horse trade on its fundamental rights to nuclear energy. "As our president has said, there is no room to bargain on (our) sovereign right (to nuclear energy technology). But once it comes to discussion, everyone is free to pose any question they wish," he told reporters. Asked whether that meant Tehran was willing to broach a discussion about halting or slowing its enrichment of uranium, as demanded by the UN Security Council, Salehi replied: "As long as that right is respected, then there is no problem." The six powers had called for urgent talks with Iran after it handed new proposals to their representatives on Wednesday. Despite Washington expressing disappointment that the package was "not really responsive to our greatest concern," Moscow said it offered "something to dig into." According to a copy of the proposals obtained and published by US non-profit investigative journalism group, Pro Publica, Iran said it was prepared to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive negotiations." The talks would address nuclear disarmament as well as a global framework for the use of "clean nuclear energy," the document said, without specifically referring to Iran's own nuclear programme. Foreign ministers of the six powers will meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week to prepare for the talks, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. However French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in Brussels for talks with his EU counterparts on Monday, warned against expecting too much. "You know how many meetings there have been with Iran? Many, many, many... I don't expect too much alas," he told reporters. The talks will be the first since the hotly disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a June vote that sparked Iran's worst unrest since the 1979 revolution. Ahmadinejad, who will himself attend the General Assembly next week, said on Sunday that Iran was ready to talk with world powers about global issues but not to negotiate over its right to nuclear technology. The six powers have been pressing Iran to agree to suspend uranium enrichment, the process which produces nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb. Tehran has ignored repeated Security Council ultimatums to halt the sensitive activity and has been punished with three sets of UN sanctions. In April, the six powers urged Iran to begin negotiations by the end of September or risk further sanctions.
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