Free Republic

TEHRAN - Iran is ready for serious negotiations with the West to seek a deal that would end a row over its atomic plans, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said on Monday. Iranian media said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may announce on Monday that Iran is expanding its atomic work. "Today, with the nuclear fuel cycle complete, we are ready to begin real negotiations with the aim of reaching an understanding," nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency. "The West should know that reaching an agreement with Iran will not be done by U.N. resolutions and if...

Can Iran help us bail out of Iraq? Maybe - but we'd better take a hard look at the price. The idea has reportedly been floated via a draft report to the Iraq Study Group (headed by former Secretary of State James Baker), which calls for a "dialogue" with Iran as well as Syria. Along the same lines, British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently said Iran could be a "partner" with the West if it did not develop a bomb. Presumably, we'd ask Iran to help stabilize the situation in Iraq, curb the Shiite militias and encourage the Iraqi government...

An expert adviser to the Baker-Hamilton commission expects the 10-person panel to recommend that the Bush administration pressure Israel to make concessions in a gambit to entice Syria and Iran to a regional conference on Iraq. The assessment was shared in a confidential memorandum — obtained yesterday by The New York Sun — to expert advisers to the commission from a former CIA station chief for Saudi Arabia, Raymond Close. Mr. Close is a member of the expert group advising the commission and was a strong advocate throughout the panel's deliberations for renewed American diplomacy with Iran and Syria. In...

Iran Denies Having Nuke Arms Plans; U.N. to Inspect Updated 7:51 AM ET December 13, 2002 By Paul Hughes TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran Friday dismissed U.S. accusations that two nuclear plants it is building could be used to make secret nuclear weapons and said it had already invited U.N. inspectors to visit the sites. "We don't have any hidden atomic activities. All our nuclear activities are for non-military fields," Iranian government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told reporters on the sidelines of a political conference. He was responding to remarks by U.S. officials claiming that two nuclear sites near the central Iranian...