US should talk with Iran without preconditions, just as it is with N. Korea

[NNN0LHI]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dilip_hiro/2006/06/spinning_on_the_axis_of_evil.html

George Bush described Washington's decision to join the European Union troika - Britain, France and Germany - in its talks with Iran on the nuclear issue provided Tehran suspended its enrichment and reprocessing activities, as "robust diplomacy".

In reality Bush's move is more an example of spin rather than a grand diplomatic gesture.

For over a year the US has been actively involved in the EU Iran talks. It was at Washington's insistence that the EU troika reneged on its promise to include supply of a light water civilian nuclear power plant to Tehran in the package that it offered Iran last August. The Iranians were so angered by the reneging on this issue they concluded that the Europeans were negotiating in bad faith.

What the US has proposed now amounts to stepping out behind the curtain and sitting at the table along with the Europeans. snip

What Tehran has offered the Bush administration is bilateral talks without any preconditions. The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's open letter to Bush last month was clear indication of this. Earlier, in May 2003, the Iranian government made a covert approach to the White House through the American interests section at the Swish embassy in Tehran for direct negotiations. It got no response.