Iran seeks direct talks with US on N-issue

Softening its stance, Iran has requested, through intermediaries, direct talks with the United States over its nuclear programme, according to American officials and foreign diplomats.

Softening its stance, Iran has requested, through intermediaries, direct talks with the United States over its nuclear programme, according to American officials and foreign diplomats. The request follows Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad8217;s recent letter to President George W Bush.

Senior Iranian officials have asked a multitude of intermediaries to pass word to Washington making clear their desire for direct talks, Saeed Laylaz, a former government official and prominent analyst in Tehran, told the Washington Post. He said Ali Larijani, chairman of Iran8217;s supreme National Security Council, passed the message to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, who arrived in Washington on Tuesday for talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen J Hadley.

Iranian officials made similar requests through Indonesia, Kuwait and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Laylaz said. American intelligence analysts also say Larijani8217;s urgent requests for meetings with senior officials in France and Germany appear to be part of a bid for dialogue with Washington.

8216;8216;They8217;ve been desperate to do it,8217;8217; said a European diplomat in Tehran. 8216;8216;The eagerness for talks demonstrates a profound change in Iran8217;s political orthodoxy, emphatically erasing a taboo against contact with Washington that has both defined and confined Tehran8217;s public foreign policy for more than a quarter-century,8217;8217; the officials were quoted as saying.

Though the Tehran government in the past has routinely jailed its citizens on charges of contact with the US, Ahmadinejad8217;s May 8 letter was implicitly endorsed by Iran8217;s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 8216;8216;You know, two months ago nobody would believe that Khamenei and Ahmadinejad together would be trying to get George W Bush to begin negotiations,8217;8217; Laylaz said. 8216;8216;This is a sign of changing strategy. They realise the situation is dangerous and they should not waste time, that they should reach out.8217;8217;