U.S. ready to talk, asks Iran to talk, too

by Mark Silva

The United States will take part in group talks with Iran about its suspect nuclear program, the Obama administration said today - a marked shift from the strategy of the Bush administration, which labeled Iran as part of the "Axis of Evil'' and generally refused to speak directly with Tehran.

And most Americans think that's a good idea, according to results of a new poll today.

The U.S. will be at the table "from now on" when senior diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany meet with Iranian officials to discuss the country's enrichment of nuclear material, the State Department says.

The Bush administration had generally shunned such meetings, although it attended one last year. The Iranian leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said today that he welcomes talks with the United States, should the American president prove to be "honest" in extending its hand toward Iran. Photo

The U.S. believes that Iran's enrichment is aimed at building a nuclear bomb, while Iran maintains that it only has interest in a civilian nuclear power generating program.

The level of uranium-enrichment required for electrical power generation is far lower than that required for weapon-building. Most outside experts believe that Iran is within a few years of achieving the technology needed for weapons-grade enrichment.

The U.S. and Iran need to talk, the Obama administration says.

"We believe that pursuing very careful engagement on a range of issues that affect our interests and the interests of the world with Iran makes sense," says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (pictured at State today by J. Scott Applewhite / AP) - who took quite a different stance during her primary campaign against Obama. "There is nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon."

Most Americans believe that Iran poses a "long-term'' threat - 60 percent say so - rather than any immediate threat to the U.S. - 22 percent say immediate, in a poll that CNN and Opinion Research Corp. have conducted.

The CNN survey, taken before the administration spoke of taking part in meetings with Iran today, also found support for talking.

"Do you think Obama administration officials should hold diplomatic talks with the leaders of Iran in the next few weeks, or should they wait to hold diplomatic talks with Iran until that country makes significant changes in its policies towards other countries?'' the survey asked.

Talk with Iran, 59 percent said. Wait, 40 percent said.

The question was asked of 510 respondents in the CNN/Opinion Research poll run April 3-5, with a possible 4.5 percent margin of error.

Some say there is no room for error in the containment of any nuclear ambitions in Iran, whose leader says Israel has no right to exist.

Obama's willingness to talk with Tehran became a presidential campaign issue, particularly in the American Jewish community, where Republicans warned that Israel could be jeopardized by Obama's approach to the Iranians.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the administration's decision to take part in all talks was conveyed today in London to representatives of the "Group of Five'' plus one -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Nations - that has been talking with Tehran.

"The U.S. remains committed to the P5+1 process; what is different is that the U.S. will join P5+1 discussions with Iran from now on," Wood said.

"If Iran accepts, we hope this will be the occasion to seriously engage Iran on how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program," he said. "Any breakthrough will be the result of the collective efforts of all the parties, including Iran."

Wire services contributed.