Iran Nuclear Watch: U.S. Is Debating Talks With Iran on Nuclear Issue?

Iran’s former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi taken during a news conference in Tehran on June 21, 2005. Karroubi urged Saturday May 27, 2006, for direct talks with the United States to break down the ‘walls of mistrust’ between their countries, but said his nation would not give up the right to produce nuclear fuel and pursue other technological advances.

New York Times: U.S. Is Debating Talks With Iran on Nuclear Issue

The Bush administration is beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding policy taboo and open direct talks with Iran, to help avert a crisis over Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program, European officials and Americans close to the administration said Friday.

European officials who have been in contact with the administration in recent weeks said the discussion was heating up, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worked with European foreign ministers to persuade Iran to suspend its efforts to enrich uranium.

European leaders make no secret of their desire for the United States to join in the talks with Iran, if only to show that the Americans have gone the extra mile to avoid a confrontation that could spiral into a fight over sanctions or even military action.

But since the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages in November that year, the United States has avoided direct talks with Iran. There were sporadic contacts during the war in Afghanistan, in the early stages of the Iraq war and in the days after the earthquake in Bam, Iran, at the end of 2003.

European officials say Ms. Rice has begun discussing the issue with top aides at the State Department. Her belief, they say, is that ultimately the matter will have to be addressed by the administration’s national security officials, whether talks with Iran remain at an impasse or even if there is some progress.

But others who know her well say she is resisting on the ground that signaling a willingness to talk would show weakness and disrupt the delicate negotiations with Europe. Ms. Rice is also said to fear that the administration might end up making too many concessions to Iran.

Administration officials said President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have opposed direct talks, even through informal back channels. As a result, many European officials say they doubt that a decision to talk is likely soon.

The prospect of direct talks between the United States and Iran is so politically delicate within the Bush administration that the officials who described the emerging debate would discuss it only after being granted anonymity.

Another anonymous source New York Times piece touting those fools from the Council on Foreign Relations who want United States enegagement with Iran.

Discussion about possible American contacts with Iran has been fueled not simply by the Europeans, but by a growing chorus of outsiders with ties to the administration who have spoken out in favor of talks.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in a recent column in The Washington Post, raised the possibility that the recent rambling letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Bush â€” dismissed by Ms. Rice as an offensive tiradeâ€” could be seen as an opportunity to open contacts.

Both Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former top aide to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, and Richard L. Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state under Mr. Powell, have also advocated talks with Iran.

“Diplomacy is much more than just talking to your friends,” Mr. Armitage said in a telephone interview. “You’ve got to talk to people who aren’t our friends, and even people you dislike. Some people in the administration think that diplomacy is a sign of weakness. In fact, it can show that you’re strong.”

Mr. Armitage held the last high-level discussions with Iran, after the Bam earthquake. In November 2004, Mr. Powell sat next to the Iranian foreign minister at a dinner during a conference in Egypt on Iraq, but he said they engaged only in small talk.

Ths piece was probably dictated to the New York Times by master-leaker Richard Armitage. But, he and other Iran appeasers/engagers like Kevin Drum miss a salient point:

Iran Does NOT WANt to Negotiate!

Iran stalls and uranium enrichment continues. The United States policy is for Iran to halt all uranium enrichment and subject their nuclear facilities to complete and thorough IAEA inspections, then negoitiate.

If Iran were to comply, then negotiations would be welcome. Before then……NO WAY!

The current Bush Administration policy is the RIGHT one.