Global Security Newswire

The United States is willing to hold talks with Iran and to offer "meaningful incentives" for Tehran to halt activities that could support nuclear weapons development, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden said Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 6).

Biden noted that the Obama administration was still "reviewing" its policy toward Iran, which asserts that its nuclear program has no military component, Agence France-Presse reported.

"We will be willing to talk to Iran, and to offer a very clear choice: continue down the current course and there will be continued pressure and isolation; abandon the illicit nuclear program and your support for terrorism and there will be meaningful incentives," Biden said at a Munich security conference.

"The Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization," he added. "But Iran has acted in ways that are not conducive to peace in the region or to the prosperity of its own people; its illicit nuclear program is but one of those manifestations."

Attempts to resolve the nuclear dispute cannot continue as they have since Tehran acknowledged its activities in 2002, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"We need to be ready for tougher sanctions," Merkel said. "It is a must to stop Iran having nuclear weapons."

Russia should act as a mediator with Iran in dialogue involving the other four permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, French President Nicolas Sarkozy added.

"It's up to Russia to demonstrate what face it wants to show the world. If it wants peace, it should show it. If it wants to be a major world player, then it should help us resolve the crisis with Iran," he said.

Iran should not miss its chance created by the coming of the Obama administration in Washington, said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

"It is not going to get any better than this. It's not going to get better than an American administration saying we want normal relations with Iran," he said (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Feb. 7).

"We in Europe, while applauding the determination of the United States to stretch out a hand to Iran, have got to realize that the United States will be far, far better off in reaching out that hand if they're able to say: 'if we're not met by an outstretched hand from Iran, very serious and very tough sanctions will follow'" Miliband added in Munich (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Feb. 7).

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana encouraged Tehran to take Washington up on any proposed nuclear talks. "That is a very, very important change that the Iranians have to think about," said Solana, who would not address his meeting Saturday with former top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani (AFP I).

"The dispute over the nuclear issue is not an unsolvable problem if we stop being entrenched in our positions," Larijani told Suddeutsche Zeitung.

"We are ready to talk without preconditions. But for that, we need a real starting point," he said. "[If] the Americans are really willing to resolve the problems, then they must present their concept."

The United States has not yet given Iran "any concrete offer" of talks and "declarations in interviews or in speeches" were not sufficient, Larijani said.

"We have heard in media that the Americans would also be ready to talk with us without preconditions. But the old cliches about carrots and sticks continue nevertheless," he added (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, Feb. 8).

Meanwhile, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami yesterday announced he would compete with incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in presidential elections slated for June 12, the Washington Post reported.

"Here I am saying that I will very seriously take part as a candidate for the election," the reformist politician said.

During his time in office, Khatami agreed to accept benefits from the international community in exchange for temporarily halting Iran's uranium enrichment program, an effort that can generate nuclear power plant fuel but also a key nuclear-weapon ingredient. However, the sides never finalized an incentives package.

Ahmadinejad, a more conservative leader, restarted the enrichment program when he took office in 2005. The country's religious leaders endorsed the move (Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post, Feb. 9).

Iran intends to produce nuclear-bomb fuel but not an actual weapon, CIA and Defense Department adviser Bruce Bueno de Mesquita said Saturday.

The Iranian government would produce a limited amount of highly enriched uranium in an attempt to bolster its prestige within the nation, according to a computer model developed by Bueno de Mesquita.

The program also determined that oil companies, banks and other "moneyed interests" would gradually overtake the influence of Iran's religious leadership, AFP reported.

"Ahmadinejad is on the way down. ... His clout is dropping," Bueno de Mesquita said.

CIA personnel have determined that 90 percent of the political consultant's computer-aided predictions are accurate, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacewar.com, Feb. 7).