US ready to join in talks with Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a major policy shift, the United States said Wednesday it is prepared to join other nations in holding direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program if Iran first agrees to stop disputed nuclear activities that the West fears could lead to a bomb.\n"To underscore our commitment to a diplomatic solution and to enhance prospects for success, as soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the State Department.\nThe Swiss ambassador to the United States was called to the State Department earlier Wednesday to receive a copy of Rice's remarks for transmission to Iran, U.S. officials said. The United States has had no diplomatic ties with Iran and few contacts at all with its government since Islamic radicals took over the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and held diplomats there for more than a year.\nThe Bush administration has been deeply suspicious of Iran's intentions and the prime mover for tough United Nations action against the clerical regime. Until now, the United States has refused repeated calls from European nations, other diplomats and former secretaries of state to join the European talks.\nFor its part, Iran has for months refused to do what the U.S. is now demanding as a first step to talks -- suspend its enrichment of uranium, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes. Iran did voluntarily suspend those activities while talks were active with the Europeans last year, but resumed and stepped up those activities this spring.\nSuspending uranium enrichment and related activities in order to talk with the United States would not preclude Iran from later insisting that it be allowed to continue those activities. At that point, the United States and its allies would be expected to move for tough U.N. Security Council action, possibly including economic or other sanctions.\nRice will meet with foreign ministers from the other permanent Security Council members on Thursday in Vienna to finalize a package of incentives and threats to be presented to Tehran.\n"We hope that in the coming days the Iranian government will thoroughly consider this proposal," Rice said.\nEuropean diplomats told The Associated Press that the package and the U.S. announcement of a willingness to talk were conditioned on pledges from Russia and China to eventually support tough actions such as sanctions if Iran continued to defy a U.N. call to stop its disputed activities.\nWhite House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States will not enter one-on-one talks with Iran. The European talks included Britain, France and Germany.\n"There are going to be some changes, but the overall position, which is that Iran needs to take the first step, it needs to suspend enrichment and reprocessing activities, that's still there," Snow said. "That's still the foundation stone for U.S. diplomatic policy on this."\nIn recent weeks, Bush administration officials repeatedly have insisted there were no plans for one-on-one talks with Iran over its nuclear program, while holding open the possibility of such meetings on Iraq, where Tehran has substantial influence with that country's Shiites.\nAny U.S. decision to talk directly with Tehran, even as part of a multilateral set of negotiations, reflects pressure by its allies and partners. Government officials from Germany have publicly urged the Americans to engage Tehran directly, and Moscow and Beijing also are believed to support such a move.\nNews of the latest U.S. position comes on the eve of a six-nation meeting focusing on ending months of disagreement between Washington and the Kremlin on how to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. A round of telephone diplomacy Tuesday between President Bush and the leaders of Russia, France and Germany also focused on the nuclear standoff.\nIran's room to maneuver would be greatly reduced if the Russians and Chinese agree to drop their objections to Security Council sanctions in exchange for U.S. participation in talks with Iran. For months, Moscow and Beijing have blocked U.S.-led attempts for tough Security Council action against the Islamic republic.\nIranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday his country was ready for "negotiations on Iran's nuclear issue without any preconditions," an allusion to the European Union's offer of economic and political perks if Tehran gave up enrichment.\n--Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.