EU's Solana says would welcome U.S.-Iran talks

BRUSSELS, May 30 (Reuters) The European Union would welcome direct talks between the United States and Iran, but it is for Washington and Tehran to decide, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana today said.

In the clearest European call for a direct dialogue so far, Solana told a hearing in the European Parliament it would be logical for the two countries to talk to each other since Iran was a growing international power.

''If you ask me if I would be happy if that took place, I would say 'Yes','' he told lawmakers.

The Bush administration has so far dismissed calls for direct talks to resolve the stand-off over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, but has offered low-level diplomatic contacts on Iraq, which Tehran has rejected.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote an unprecedented 18-page letter to US President George W. Bush earlier this month, which Bush initially dismissed but last week called ''interesting''.

''As far as direct contacts between the US and Iran, as you know they've spent 20 years not talking to each other,'' Solana told a session of the foreign and defence committees of the European Parliament and the 25 EU national parliaments.

''A logical analysis would say that that should come to an end because Iran is going to be a very important player in the world.

But this is a decision that ... they have to take.'' He noted that Bush had recently authorised his ambassador in Iraq to talk to Iranian officials.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, attending a non-aligned states' meeting in Malaysia, said Iran might hold direct talks with the United States over its nuclear programme if Washington changed its behaviour.

''For the time being, we have suspended direct talks,'' he told reporters. ''After a change of their behaviour we may consider again.'' NUCLEAR ISSUE The United States argues that the nuclear issue is a dispute between the entire international community and Iran, not a bilateral one, and is thus best handled through the United Nations Security Council and the U.N. nuclear watchdog the IAEA.

Three EU powers -- Britain, France and Germany -- and Solana have been trying to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used to make weapons, in return for economic, technological and political benefits.

Tehran, which insists its programme is purely for civilian energy purposes, refuses to halt enrichment.

Solana said the EU was working on making Iran an offer it could not refuse if it sincerely sought civilian nuclear technology and not bombs, while the Security Council would make its call for Tehran to halt enrichment legally binding.

Foreign ministers of the European Union, the United States, Russia and China would meet before the end of the week to try to finalise the package, he said.

''After we have talked with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin and the Chinese, I think that there is a possibility of finding an agreement on a resolution,'' Solana added.

An EU diplomat said the meeting was expected to be in Vienna on Thursday.

Many diplomats say privately the EU alone cannot offer enough incentives and only the United States could guarantee Iranian security and economic integration in a ''grand bargain'' in exchange for halting sensitive nuclear activities.

REUTERS SY PM1722