US to join with Europe over Iran

WASHINGTON - In a major diplomatic shift, the US now says it will join its European allies in direct negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme, once Tehran suspends the uranium enrichment they suspect is aimed at securing a nuclear weapon.

The change, which follows an intense policy debate in Washington, was announced here yesterday by Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State.

It came on the eve of talks in Vienna where foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the United Nations security council will try to finalise a carrot-and-stick package, combining incentives for Teheran to scrap its enrichment programme with the threat of international sanctions if it does not.

Iran's government had a choice, Ms Rice said.

It could continue its course of defiance, and "incur only great costs." Alternatively, it could work towards a solution, by halting all enrichment and reprocessing activities, and fully co-operating with the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog agency.

As soon as Iran "fully and verifiably" suspended its enrichment and reprocessing activities, "the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives." If they take place, these would be the first formal direct negotiations in an international framework since the two countries severed relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

But Washington's new gambit leaves many uncertainties - above all on what sanctions, if any, will be acceptable to Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the UN security council.

Experts here said these would probably have to be very narrowly framed, in a way that did not jeopardise the two countries' substantial economic and energy ties with Iran.

Pressed on the issue, Ms Rice refused to predict that Moscow and Beijing would definitely go along.

She pointedly noted that if all else failed, Washington might sidestep the UN and press for an agreement on sanctions "by like-minded countries." Questioned further, she did not rule out military action as a last resort.

There was "a strong international consensus that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, and must adhere to international standards.

Nonetheless, the emphasis here yesterday was overwhelmingly on the diplomatic route.

"We want a diplomatic solution, and I believe this problem can be solved diplomatically," President Bush said in the Oval Office, after talks with Paul Kigame, the visiting President of Rwanda.

He stressed the need for a united international front, and again insisted that the US, for all its differences with the government in Tehran - on terrorism and Iraq as well as on the nuclear issue - it had no quarrel with the Iranian people.

Ms Rice's speech represents a significant victory for pragmatists in the administration over how to handle Iran.

It is a clear setback for hardliners led by vice-President Dick Cheney, who have advocated a policy of no concessions, backed by more or less overt threats of military action.

But, analysts said, the White House and State Department have also bowed to pressure from the Europeans and others, who have insisted the thus far fruitless negotiations led by Britain, France and Germany would have a much greater chance of success if the US took part as well.

Direct US participation would be "the strongest and most positive signal of our common wish to reach an agreement with Iran," Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said yesterday, as the annoucement came from Washington.

Nonetheless, Ms Rice rejected any "grand bargain" with Teheran which would include the restoration of normal diplomatic relations.

The question how is now Iran will respond.

"It's possible they could meet this with a concession of their own," said Joseph Cirincione, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment here, noting that Iran in the past had suspended its enrichment programme for limited periods, as a condition for talks with the EU three.

Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, yesterday promised that the Europeans would offer "a serious and substantial" package.

It would show Iran the benefits of compliance, "rather than the further isolation which would result from their failure to do so."

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