Global Policy Forum

By Julian Borger and Ian Traynor

The US yesterday reversed a 27-year-old policy of isolation towards Iran and offered to join multilateral talks on its nuclear programme, on condition that Tehran suspended uranium enrichment and cooperated with UN inspectors. The policy, which President George Bush labelled "robust diplomacy", is also contingent on Russia and China agreeing to sanctions if the offer is rejected by Iran. That deal has not been reached, and a package of sticks and carrots will be negotiated at a meeting in Vienna today of foreign ministers from the permanent five members of the UN security council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - and from Germany.

There have been sporadic contacts between the US and Iran over Afghanistan, but the multilateral talks Washington is offering would represent the first high-level negotiations since 1979, when US diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran. "I thought it was important for the United States to take the lead, along with our partners. And that's what you're seeing. You're seeing robust diplomacy," Mr Bush said. "I believe this problem can be solved diplomatically, and I'm going to give it every effort to do so."

Unveiling details of the offer before leaving for Vienna, the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said: "As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues [Britain, France and Germany] and meet with Iran's representatives."

Joseph Cirincione, an expert on nuclear diplomacy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: "There's no question this is a major policy shift, but we don't yet know this is going to lead a diplomatic breakthrough. There are people in both capitals that don't want these negotiations to happen." But he said the announcement marked a tactical victory for Washington's doves. "This is another sign of the decline of the ideologues and the rehabilitation of the pragmatists," he said.

Ms Rice said the US offer was limited to taking part in European talks with Iranian negotiators on nuclear issues, and would not involve bilateral meetings or represent a first step towards re-establishing diplomatic contacts. "This is not a grand bargain," she said, adding that the aim was to present Iran a choice between two clear paths: cooperation with added incentives, or confrontation with a rising tariff of sanctions. The foreign ministers' meeting is to start tonight at the British ambassador's residence in the Austrian capital. The Europeans and the Russians have been pressing the Americans to engage with Iran for weeks, in the belief US involvement offers the only chance of avoiding a potential international disaster.

"This important statement by the US administration reinforces our hope that out of the current discussions we will be able to establish a new and cooperative relationship with Iran," said Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief. The EU troika of Britain, France, and Germany would resume talks with Tehran on a broad package of political, trade, security, and nuclear rewards, in return for Iran reinstating its freeze on uranium enrichment and allowing intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Parallel to the EU-led talks, the security council would adopt a binding resolution obliging Iran to suspend enrichment, and ordering economic sanctions against it if it balked at the deal on offer. The resolution has been worded to avoid any mention of possible military action further down the road, at the Russians' insistence.

Iran's official state news agency, Irna, dismissed the offer as propaganda. "It's evident that the Islamic Republic of Iran only accepts proposals and conditions that meet the interests of the nation and the country. Halting enrichment definitely doesn't meet such interests," the agency said. "Given the insistence by Iranian authorities on continuing uranium enrichment, Rice's comments can be considered a propaganda move."

The sticking point is the enrichment programme at Natanz, the basis of Iran's nuclear energy project which can also furnish the fissile material for warheads. Tehran has to freeze that programme for the talks to resume. But it says enrichment work is "irreversible". A passage in the European offer talks of "regional security arrangements [with] guarantees for territorial integrity and political sovereignty"; a US signature on such an agreement would mean no US policy of "regime change", nor attempts to destabilise the regime.

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