West says it is open to more flexibility with Iran

LONDON, May 7 (IranMania) - The world's big powers have signalled they are willing to adopt a more flexible approach in the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme as soon as Tehran has sat down at the negotiating table, The Financial Times reported.

The gesture comes ahead of an expected meeting this week between Ali Larijani, Iran top security official, and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, in an attempt to restart the diplomaticprocess.

Speaking to the Financial Times, officials from the UK, the US and the EU insisted that Iran had to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce nuclear fuel and weapons grade material, before formal talks could begin. They added that once Iran had taken such a step, they were willing to consider more options.

"We can be imaginative and flexible in terms of exploring where negotiations might go," a senior British official said. He argued that an offer the world's big powers made to Iran last year was only the starting point for discussion and could be repackaged.

Last year's offer, made by the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, proposed that an international consortium based in Russia enrich the uranium for Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran has re-jected this, although it says it would be willing for such a consortium to enrich uranium within Iran itself.

The official said such a suggestion could be discussed within the talks. "No doubt they would put the idea of a consortium inside Iran on the table," he said.

"We need to get through this very difficult minuet between Solana and Larijani about how to get to the table," Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, told the Financial Times after participating in a meeting between the P5 countries and Germany on Iran.

"Because, once we get to the table, either side can raise anything they wish. So we are certainly interested in what they have to say and we will listen [to] what they have to say at the table."

Mr Burns said the US had signalled its willingness to talk to Iran in two contexts - in nuclear negotiations and in last week's meeting on Iraq at Sharm el Sheikh. At that meeting, however, Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, appeared to snub Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state.

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