Game Day for U.S., Iran Nuke Talks
Inspections for Qom facility to be top U.S. priority
Updated 3:39 AM PDT, Thu, Oct 1, 2009
The U.S. and five other world powers have begun talks with Iranian officials aimed at freezing the country's nuclear program, and a U.S. official said Washington is open to speaking with Iranian diplomats one-on-one.
Either way, U.S. officials said their top priority at the Geneva talks would be getting Iran to open up its newly disclosed nuke facility in Qom to immediate international inspections, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Both countries have made conciliatory moves in recent days to help thaw icy relations ahead of the talks. On Wednesday, the U.S. granted a visa for Iran’s foreign minister to visit his country’s unofficial embassy in Washington. Not since the Clinton administration had such a high level official’s visa been approved to visit there, The New York Times reported.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that he’d consider buying fuel from other countries in lieu of enriching uranium, a significant softening of his hard-line stance. He also invited President Obama to meet him for talks on nukes and other issues, the first time an Iranian leader has appealed to a U.S. president since the 1979 revolution, according to the Journal.
Get more: MSNBC, Wall Street Journal
First Published: Oct 1, 2009 12:29 AM PDT
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