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U.S. and Iran to face off at six-power nuclear talks
Thu Oct 1, 2009 1:54am EDT
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By Louis Charbonneau
GENEVA (Reuters) - Six world powers gather in Switzerland on Thursday for a meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and U.S. officials said there could be an opportunity for a rare bilateral meeting with the Iranians.
Diplomats from some of the countries taking part -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China -- said they hoped the Iranians would engage in constructive talks on how to end the long-running standoff over Tehran's nuclear program, which the West fears is for making weapons.
"This can't be a phony process," a senior U.S. official said in Washington. "It can't be a process where they go through the motions."
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and has defied five U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding it suspend all sensitive nuclear activities.
U.S. officials said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, head of the U.S. delegation, was not actively seeking a one-on-one meeting in Geneva with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili. But they said Burns would not reject one if the opportunity arose.
"I think there'll be the opportunity for sidebar conversations that could involve any of the 5-plus-1 partners and the Iranians," a senior U.S. official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "That's the way this is laid out."
'THE ENGAGEMENT TRACK'
In Washington, senior Obama administration officials said the United States will not threaten Iran with fresh sanctions at the one-day talks in Geneva but has been actively laying the groundwork to pursue them if necessary.
"This is the engagement track tomorrow, not the pressure track," one senior official said.
But the official said the United States has been preparing "a range of areas" in which to pursue sanctions against Iran if Tehran ignores Western entreaties about its nuclear program.
The officials would not discuss specifics of the sanctions, which experts believe could be targeted at the energy sector. But they said consultations among allies have been active and that the sanctions could be applied through the U.N. Security Council or coordinated among individuals countries.
"You're in a much better position to prepare the ground on the pressure track if you have demonstrated unmistakably that you're doing everything you can on the engagement side," one official said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who made a rare visit to Washington on Wednesday to inspect his country's unofficial diplomatic office there, was due to give a news conference at the United Nations in New York on Thursday.
The Geneva talks will not be the first time a U.S. official has sat at a table with an envoy of Tehran. But Thursday's meeting will be the first time a U.S. official will be a "full participant" in a meeting of the major powers with Iran.
The U.S. approach contrasts sharply with a similar meeting in Geneva in July 2008, when Burns left the room at one point to avoid having to shake hands with Jalili the Iranian negotiator, according to diplomats who were present. Continued...
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