Iran’s president on Wednesday sent the clearest signal yet that the Islamic Republic wants warmer ties with the US, just one day after Washington spoke of new strategies to address the country’s disputed nuclear program.
Taken together, the developments indicate that the longtime adversaries are seeking ways to return to the negotiating table and ease a nearly 30-year-old diplomatic standoff.
US President Barack Obama’s administration has sought to start a dialogue with Iran — a departure from the tough talk of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Iran had mostly dismissed the overtures, but in a speech on Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad changed his tone, saying that Iran was preparing new proposals aimed at breaking an impasse with the West over its nuclear program.
“The Iranian nation is a generous nation. It may forget the past and start a new era, but any country speaking on the basis of selfishness will get the same response the Iranian nation gave to Mr Bush,” Ahmadinejad told thousands in the southeastern city of Kerman.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed Ahmadinejad’s comments during a meeting on Wednesday with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
“With respect to the latest speeches and remarks out of Iran, we welcome dialogue,” Clinton said. “We’ve been saying that we are looking to have an engagement with Iran, but we haven’t seen anything that would amount to any kind of proposal at all.”
She said the six countries trying to lure Iran back to the negotiating table would have more to say in the coming days. Those countries, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, asked Solana last week to invite Iran to a new round of talks.
Solana said Iran has not formally responded to the invitation and he declined to comment on Ahmadinejad’s remarks.
The US government has declined to publicly discuss possible new strategies for dealing with Iran. The Obama administration said its immediate goal was to get Iran back to nuclear negotiations.
Though there have not been any concrete breakthroughs, Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iranian affairs expert at New York’s Syracuse University, said that Ahmadinejad’s comments were a “good omen.”
“It certainly signals interest in engaging with the Obama administration,” he said, adding that no terms had been set for possible talks.
Iran’s uranium enrichment program has been the key point of contention. The Bush administration had insisted that Iran scrap enrichment before talks could begin — a demand Iran repeatedly rejected. On Wednesday, a senior official said the US would be prepared to let Tehran continue enriching uranium at the current level for some time.
Uranium enrichment can be used to produce fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. The US and some of its allies accuse Tehran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges, saying its nuclear program is geared toward generating electricity.
There had been a few efforts in recent years to reach consensus, but they appeared to go nowhere.
Two years ago, Washington briefly softened its position, and its negotiating partners told Tehran that they could accept a continuation of enrichment for a limited time as they moved toward talks. But Iran insisted it be allowed to enrich as part of its rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, ending the effort.
A decision by the US to return to the negotiating table last year also did not bear fruit.
But on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad said “circumstances have changed” — an apparent reference to Obama’s election and Iran’s own progress in its nuclear program since talks with world powers last year.
Iran says it now controls the entire cycle for producing nuclear fuel — including extracting uranium ore and enriching it.
Ahmadinejad said Iran welcomed dialogue provided it is based on justice and respect, suggesting the West should not try to force it to halt enrichment.
“Today we are preparing a new package. Once it becomes ready, we will present that package [to you],” the president said. “It is a package that constitutes peace and justice throughout the globe and also respects other nations’ rights.”
He didn’t elaborate.
The US and Iran broke off diplomatic ties after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran by hardline students.
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