One day after saying Iran could not be trusted to negotiate in good faith, the Bush administration on Wednesday offered to join European talks with Tehran if the regime stops enriching uranium.
In a rare solo news conference at the State Department, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. might join members of the European Union in negotiations aimed at convincing Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU colleagues and meet with Iran’s representatives,” Rice told reporters. “We hope that in the coming days the Iranian government will thoroughly consider this proposal.”
The overture came one day after White House Press Secretary Tony Snow expressed exasperation with Iran for refusing to negotiate in good faith.
“There have been a number of occasions where the Iranians have signaled some willingness to negotiate, and then they pulled the rug out,” he told reporters.
“We saw it most recently last week, when there was conversation about two-party negotiations simply about Iraq, where we had empowered our ambassador, Zal Khalilzad, to speak with the Iranians, and the Iranians bailed out on it,” he said. “So they have to demonstrate not only good faith in negotiations, but good behavior, and we haven’t seen any of that yet.”
President Bush was unapologetic about altering his approach to Iran.
“My decision today says that the United States is going to take a leadership position in solving this issue,” he said. “I thought it was important for the United States to take the lead.”
Directing his message at the Iranian regime, the president added: “You must verifiably suspend any programs, at which point we will come to the negotiating table to work on a way forward.”
The U.S. still opposes one-on-one talks with Iran. And although Rice offered multilateral negotiations, as well as a package of incentives if Iran cooperates, she also threatened to punish Tehran if it continues to defy the international community.
“That path will lead to international isolation and progressively stronger political and economic sanctions,” she said.
