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World powers say Iran nuclear talks could resume soon

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Six world powers may resume talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program as early as this fall, officials said Wednesday.

Diplomats from the six nations said after a morning meeting in New York that they had seen several recent signals that Tehran is willing to resume the conversations it broke off almost a year ago.

The diplomats expressed some wariness, however, saying that Iranian officials have ignored previous approaches from the West and noting that there is deep mistrust between the two sides after years of failed attempts at negotiation.

“The real proof will be in renewed engagement,” said a senior Obama administration official who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The diplomats are in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly meetings.

Officials from the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany have been pressuring Iran to curtail its nuclear program, which they believe is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon. Iran says the program is intended only for peaceful purposes, such as power generation.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in New York this week, said Tuesday that he saw a “good chance” for new talks because “there is no other alternative.”

But each side has accused the other of not wanting talks. Western analysts say that although Ahmadinejad appears to be in favor of talks, other influential Iranian leaders aren’t, some because they are political rivals of the president.

The U.S. official said that, given the mistrust, the world powers are proposing to move into negotiations gradually with “confidence-building” measures.

A first step, he said, would be to try to restore a failed proposal for the West to process some low-enriched Iranian nuclear fuel to power a small medical research reactor in Iran. Iran and the six powers seemed close to arranging such a deal last October, but it fell apart, seemingly because of differences among Iranian leaders.

A revised version of this deal could be “a way to build confidence and pave the way for tackling the hard issues at the core of Iran’s nuclear program,” the U.S. official said.

Western officials devised the proposal as a way to remove a large amount of Tehran’s nuclear fuel from the country, thus slowing the development of its nuclear program. But Iran has since greatly expanded its nuclear stocks, meaning more fuel would have to be removed from the country under the program to give it the same value to the West.

The six nations said in a statement that “our objective continues to be a comprehensive long-term negotiated solution which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature” of Iran’s nuclear program, while “respecting Iran’s legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”

Iran has been under growing pressure to return to talks since June, when the U.N., followed by a number of individual countries, imposed sanctions aimed at hindering its nuclear program and economy.

U.S. and allied officials say the sanctions have created strong pressure on Iran, though some Iranian officials dispute that.

paul.richter@latimes.com

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