Global Security Newswire

Negotiators from Iran and the United States spoke directly today on the sidelines of a multilateral meeting that Western powers hope will lead Tehran to suspend its disputed nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 30).

U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns discussed matters with top Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili during a mid-day break, two Western diplomats said of the meeting. Neither source would speculate on what topics were addressed in the encounter, but Washington had vowed to address its concerns regarding the intent of Iran's uranium enrichment program (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 1).

Another diplomatic source described the U.S.-Iranian discussion to CNN as "serious and frank" (CNN, Oct. 1).

The five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany began the discussion by reaffirming an offer of diplomatic and economic benefits that Iran would receive in exchange for halting its enrichment activities, one Western diplomat told the Washington Post. Jalili limited his initial discussion of nuclear matters to global nonproliferation issues, according to the official.

"We are hoping to get to the meat in the afternoon," said the diplomat.

Jalili, speaking to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, reportedly reaffirmed Iran's oft-stated position that the nation was not willing to relinquish its "certain rights" to nuclear energy. Nonetheless, diplomats expressed hope that this session might lead to a breakthrough down the road in the nuclear standoff.

"We are expecting the beginning of a serious process between Iran and the international community," one source told the Post.

The sides agreed to hold additional discussions this month, Iranian state media reported. Western diplomats confirmed the announcement, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to send inspectors to Iran's recently disclosed and still-unfinished Qum enrichment facility ahead of the next negotiation session (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Oct. 1).

“We considered the atmosphere a constructive one and we hope that the other side will have the same political will and determination and constructive approach to participating in this dialogue,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said after the meeting, adding that Tehran was willing to send political leaders to future talks (Erlanger/Landler, New York Times I, Oct. 1).

"What we need to see now are not just words, but actions," a high-level State Department official said yesterday in a press briefing. "That needs to be the beginning of what the Iranians are required to do -- to come clean about their entire nuclear program."

The talks "cannot be an open-ended process or talks just for the sake of talks. Especially in light of the revelations about Qum," the official added (U.S. State Department release, Sept. 30).

Agency officials visiting the Qum site could employ surveillance cameras, neutron detectors, heat sensors and other equipment to help ensure that material at the facility is not diverted for military use, one source familiar with IAEA safeguards procedures told the Wall Street Journal (David Crawford, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1).

Although the United States does not intend to threaten Iran today with new economic penalties, Washington is planning for sanctions in "a range of areas" if the talks yield little progress in resolving the nuclear dispute, one high-level official told Reuters. The source refused to comment on the penalties under consideration (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Oct. 1).

A top Iranian nuclear official made a passing reference Monday to "other" sites the U.N. nuclear watchdog officials might receive access to, prompting speculation among intelligence officials over whether Tehran could open a known uranium mine to international scrutiny or release new information on its nuclear activities, the Times reported yesterday (Broad/Sanger, New York Times II, Sept. 30).

The British intelligence community has asserted that Iran launched an effort to develop a nuclear warhead in "late 2004 or early 2005," the Financial Times reported Tuesday. The United States has maintained that Tehran shuttered its formal nuclear-weapon development program in 2003 and never revived the effort (see GSN, Sept. 17; Financial Times, Sept. 29).

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei yesterday argued there is "no credible evidence" of an Iranian nuclear-weapon effort, the London Guardian reported yesterday (Borger/Norton-Taylor, London Guardian, Sept. 30).

Iran planned at the talks to seek access to higher-enriched uranium capable of powering a small research reactor in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday. Tehran, which has insisted its nuclear program is purely peaceful, is only known to produce low-enriched uranium suitable for use in nuclear power reactors.

"One of the subjects on the agenda of this negotiation is how we can get fuel for our Tehran reactor," Agence France-Presse quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "We need 19.75 percent-enriched uranium. We said that, and we propose to buy it from anybody who is ready to sell it to us. We are ready to give 3.5 percent-enriched uranium and then they can enrich it more and deliver to us 19.75 percent-enriched uranium."

Uranium must have an enrichment level approaching 90 percent to be considered suitable for a bomb.

"Some countries individually and collectively made some proposals to us but on Thursday this question will be on the table," Ahmadinejad added. "Our nuclear experts are ready to study and negotiate with these countries who gave the proposals and are ready to provide us with fuel.

"On Thursday we are going to these negotiations with a strong and elaborate plan," he said. "The Iranian delegation is ready to welcome all proposals for a collective cooperation."

Ahmadinejad also expressed no worries about additional sanctions on his nation, according to the Fars news agency.

"The negotiators can definitely adopt any policy that they want, but we will not be harmed," he said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Sept. 30).

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mottaki and his wife yesterday made a quick trip to the Iranian Interests Section in Washington. The visit apparently made Mottaki the first high-level Iranian official to visit Washington since the Middle Eastern state's 1979 Islamic revolution, according to the Post (Kessler, Washington Post).