Washington — The United States and the European Union called on Iran to drop its preconditions and agree to serious talks on its nuclear program and to start addressing the international community’s concerns that its civilian nuclear program is being used as a cover for the development of nuclear weapons.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met in Washington May 17 with Catherine Ashton, the European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, and said their discussions had included the joint efforts of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, China and the United States — collectively known as the P5+1 — to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“We have been clear and united, under Cathy Ashton’s leadership … that Iran has to meet its international obligations and negotiate seriously on the nuclear issue,” Clinton said.
U.S. officials have said the previous meetings between Iran and the P5+1 to discuss its nuclear program were disappointing.
During talks in Geneva in October 2009, the P5+1 proposed a deal that would have provided Iran’s Tehran Research Reactor with enriched uranium fuel and would have required that the enrichment be done in another country to ensure that uranium would not be enriched to a level that could be used for nuclear weapons.
Iran ultimately rejected the offer, and has since declared that it is enriching its own uranium fuel supplies.
Following a second meeting that was held in Istanbul in January 2011, the P5+1 issued a joint statement saying that “it was not possible to reach any substantive result” from the talks.
“We came to Geneva and to Istanbul with a constructive spirit and proposed in Istanbul several practical ideas aimed at building confidence and to facilitate the engagement of a constructive dialogue with Iran on the basis of reciprocity and step-by-step approach. We look to Iran to engage in future in a similarly constructive spirit,” the statement said.
On May 10, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, sent Ashton a letter concerning the possibility of additional talks. Clinton said Ashton is preparing a response to Jalili on behalf of the P5+1 , but said “the burden remains on Iran to demonstrate it is prepared to end its stalling tactics, drop its unacceptable preconditions and start addressing the international community’s concerns.”
Ashton said she received Jalili’s correspondence three months after she had sent a letter calling for further discussions.
“I had wished for a stronger and better letter from them to recognize that the offer on the table is an offer they should look at very carefully. I will be sending a reply,” she said, adding “I would like to say there will be a new round of talks. From the letter that I’ve received, I don’t see that at the present time.”