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U.S. presence at Iran talks divisive
Some say move signals weakness
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Published: July 19, 2008
VIENNA, Austria - A senior U.S. envoy will sit eye-to-eye for the first time today with a top Iranian nuclear negotiator, a reversal in U.S. policy to entice Tehran into ending activities that could be used to make atomic weapons.
The decision to send Undersecretary of State William Burns to the Geneva nuclear talks has raised the hackles of Washington hardliners who say that it signals U.S. weakness. But supporters say that because Tehran and the United States want to ease tensions, the move could breathe life into deadlocked nuclear talks.
On the eve of the meeting, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that the talks offered hope for a peaceful solution to the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. But he also expects no quick changes from Iran, which has said that "the essentials" -- an apparent reference to suspending uranium enrichment -- will not be on the table.
"After the Geneva meeting, we must not hope for an improvement, a change of attitude, right away," Kouchner said.
Initially, supporters of the negotiations say, the United States and its allies could agree to stop pushing for new U.N. sanctions if Tehran stops expanding its uranium-enrichment capacities -- setting the stage for fuller negotiations and what the West hopes will be agreement from Tehran to dismantle its enrichment program.
Uranium enrichment can produce reactor fuel and the core of nuclear warheads. Iran says it has a right to enrich for peaceful uses and continues expanding its program despite three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions enacted out of concern that Iran's goal is to make weapons.
The Americans are part of a six-nation effort -- the permanent Security Council members plus Germany -- trying to encourage Iran to suspend its nuclear efforts in exchange for economic and political incentives.
The venue of today's talks reflects the potential importance of the meeting. The Hotel de Ville, or city hall, stands at the top of Geneva's Old Town. Its neoclassical rooms have been host to important international negotiations since 1872, when an arbitration tribunal ordered Britain to pay the United States $15.5 million in Civil War damages. It was also the first home of the League of Nations, the predecessor of today's United Nations.
The all-day talks, formally led by European Union envoy Javier Solana and Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili, will start at 11 a.m.
American officials have said that Burns' presence will be a "one-time event" and that he will listen to the Iranians but will not be negotiating. They also say that the United States continues to demand that Iran fully freeze uranium enrichment -- a point that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made again yesterday.
Sending Burns to Geneva is a "strong signal" that the United States is serious about diplomacy, but the United States continues to insist that the start of negotiations with Iran is contingent on "the verifiable suspension of Iran's enrichment and reprocessing activities," Rice told reporters at the State Department.
Policy hawks disagree. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and undersecretary of state in charge of Tehran's nuclear file, said that the move represents a "U-turn" in the U.S. position on Iran.
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