VIENNA — Iran’s new offer for talks with six world powers ignores their key demand of a freeze of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, according to a copy obtained Friday by The Associated Press, and instead amounts to a manifesto calling for a new international order.
The five-page proposal, formally submitted Wednesday to the six nations trying to entice Iran to make nuclear concessions, says Tehran stands ready to “embark on comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive negotiations.”
In a surprise turn, the State Department announced Friday that the United States and its five partner countries would talk to Iran despite its insistence that its nuclear program was not negotiable.
A Department spokesman told reporters that although Iran’s proposal for international talks was disappointing for sidestepping the nuclear issue, it represented a chance to begin a direct dialogue.
