Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday said his country was preparing a formal response to an invitation to rejoin nuclear negotiations with the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, Reuters reported (see GSN, April 16).
(Apr. 17) -
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country was studying U.S. diplomatic overtures (Atta Kenare/Getty Images).
Tehran's reply "will soon be given in a statement," Iranian state media quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "However, we're inclined to dialogue and in this statement the framework of the talks and Iran's position will be announced."
Since 2006, the six world powers have offered various diplomatic and financial benefits in hopes of persuading Iran to halt its enrichment program, which has raised Western concerns about its potential to support nuclear-weapon development. The Middle Eastern state has said its nuclear program has no military component and consistently refused to suspend enrichment as a precondition to negotiate with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Last summer, Iran rejected a new incentives proposal with additional bonuses and instead called for wider-ranging negotiations. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that he was formulating new proposals for addressing the standoff (Hashem Kalantari, Reuters I, April 17).
"We are studying the comments of the U.S. government precisely and with respect," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki added, according to Reuters. "If the Obama administration turns its expressions of change into reality, there can also be change on our side," a Japanese newspaper quoted him as saying (Sieg/Kubota, Reuters II, April 17).
The United States should re-establish formal ties with Iran and drop economic penalties against its longtime antagonist in an effort to soften Tehran's stance on its nuclear policy and other issues, an analyst said in a report released Wednesday.
Tensions with Iran demand "a bold set of American initiatives that will send a clear signal to Iran about our good intentions, and create the means by which a productive relationship and negotiation can go forward," wrote John Tirman, head of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"That includes a new discourse toward Iran, one of due respect and trust building; lifting of most unilateral sanctions; normalizing relations as soon as possible; proposing innovative solutions on nuclear development; addressing regional security concerns in a multilateral forum; and cooperative endeavors on an array of issues," he stated (James Smith, Boston Globe, April 16).