Russia, China praise US offer of talks with Iran

United Nations, June 1: Russia and China's UN ambassadors today praised a US offer of direct talks with Iran if it stopped enriching uranium, but Beijing's envoy urged Washington not to put any conditions on its proposal.

Chinese UN Ambassador Wang Guangya also urged the Western powers drafting a package of incentives and disincentives to entice Iran into suspending its nuclear programme to include security guarantees for Tehran in the package, a ''carrot'' the United States opposes.

Wang said Tehran also must be allowed to keep pursuing enrichment research, in hopes of eventually producing electric power. In negotiations to date, the United States and European Union powers Britain, France and Germany have flatly opposed letting Iran pursue enrichment research on its soil.

Both Wang and Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said it was too soon to speculate on how the US shift would affect deliberations on Iran in the UN Security Council.

The council's five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- and Germany have been negotiating for months over a resolution aimed at stepping up pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.

Tehran insists it is enriching uranium only to generate electricity, a right guaranteed it by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But Western powers fear Iran seeks a civilian energy program as a cover for making nuclear weapons.

Russia and China, while opposing nuclear arms for Iran, say they remain uncertain of Tehran's motives.

The US policy shift came a day before a meeting of the six nations' foreign ministers on the Iran crisis in Vienna.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the offer of direct talks was meant to boost efforts to end a long impasse.

But she warned Iran it would incur ''great costs'' if it continued to pursue nuclear arms and stressed that military action remained an option.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow said President George W Bush had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the shift in the US approach toward Iran but had not as yet spoken directly to Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Russia's Churkin praised the US offer as a sign of Washington's pursuit of a negotiated solution to the crisis.

''We have seen a clear shift to diplomatic and political methods,'' he said.

Wang called the US proposal ''a welcome offer. But if it was offered in an unconditional way, it would be much better.'' The offer also needed to be improved by guarantees that Iran would not be attacked over its nuclear program and could continue to pursue enrichment research, he said.

If a deal with Iran failed to recognize Tehran's right to enrichment-related research and development, ''this means you did not recognize their right to the peaceful use'' of nuclear power, as guaranteed by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Wang said.

Reuters

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