Hopes for peace grow as Iran and US hold first high-level talks for 30 years

The US is to send a senior official to talks with Iran on Saturday, the highest level meeting between the two since the 1979 Iranian revolution and a departure from George Bush’s previous hard line.

William Burns, an undersecretary of state, left Washington last night en route to Switzerland to hear Tehran’s response on Saturday to a multinational proposal offering economic and technical cooperation in return for suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment programme.
Bush has repeatedly ruled out direct talks until Iran suspended its uranium enrichment process. Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear bomb. The White House and the state department denied there had been a turnaround and insisted that it was change in tactics rather than substance. But rightwingers in the US, who have argued for bombing Iranian nuclear plants, accused Bush of appeasement.

Sean McCormack, the state department spokesman, described the face-to-face meeting as “a one-time deal” and that no further meetings were planned unless Iran suspended its uranium enrichment programme. Burns would be there to listen, not negotiate, McCormack said.

Both the White House and the state department insisted they had no inside knowledge of Tehran’s reaction on Saturday, but Burns’ participation suggests a deal is in the offing.

Javier Solana, the European foreign policy chief, said yesterday that he hoped for a “constructive response” from the meeting in Geneva with the Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. “I hope we will have good news to communicate to you … but I cannot guarantee success,” Solana told reporters at a conference in Berlin.

The US stance on uranium enrichment has been dropped in an increasingly urgent effort to find a solution to the deadlock before Bush leaves office in January. Israel recently threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear sites if it persevered with its programme, while Iran has conducted missile tests and vowed retaliation.

Guardian