DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - THE WEST/IRAN: TO LOWER THE BAR OR NOT TO LOWER THE BAR?!? WHAT WILL THE COWARDLY APPEASING WEST DO?!?

U.S. allies explore compromise with Iran

Key U.S. allies are debating the idea of a nuclear compromise with Iran that would call for only a partial freeze of Tehran's uranium enrichment program - a stance that could put them at odds with Washington, officials said yesterday.

The officials - U.S. and European diplomats and government employees - said the deliberations among senior British, French and German decision-makers were only preliminary.

Germany was supportive, France opposed and Britain noncommittal, they said.

"Nothing is on paper," said one European diplomat, describing the tentative plan as a "freeze for peace."

With the United States continuing to insist on a full enrichment freeze, the talks could strain the U.S.-led attempt to show unity on the issue or even push Washington to settle for less than it has been demanding.

An American official said "there is some truth" to the reports of the discussions among the British, French and Germans. "We're still very skittish on that," the official said.

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and now the U.S. response:


Rice Rejects Lowering Bar for Iran Talks
By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer

PARIS (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice maintained a firm line Sunday against efforts to soften conditions for Iran to enter talks over its disputed nuclear program, dismissing as "chatter" discussions among U.S. allies about a new approach.

British, French and German officials have begun debating whether to tolerate something less than a full freeze on Iran's work to enrich uranium, an ingredient for both civilian nuclear power or a bomb, officials in Vienna told The Associated Press on Friday.

Germany was supportive of such a concession, while France was opposed and Britain noncommittal, said the officials, who included U.S. and European diplomats and government employees. They said the talks were preliminary, and that nothing had been decided.

"I don't know where that's coming from," Rice said en route to France for two days of get-to-know-you meetings with the new, conservative-led French government and a strategy session on the violence and refugee crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.

Rice said in her discussions with other diplomats she has sensed no willingness to back off conditions that Iran's European and United Nations negotiating partners had set to begin formal talks.

Iran must stop, or suspend, its disputed activity during negotiations, so that it cannot continue to perfect its nuclear expertise while also bargaining to give it up.

Iran has refused, and sped up its enrichment work. Estimates vary, but Iranian scientists are fast mastering the difficult steps involved in nuclear development. Some experts, including the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, have suggested that time may be running out for talks on the terms Rice and others want.

Iran insists its nuclear work is aimed only at developing nuclear energy, and says it will not give up its right to work toward that goal. For the Iranians, the program has become a matter of national pride. The United States and some other nations are convinced Tehran is secretly working to build nuclear weapons.

"My counterparts when I talk to them are not interested in lowering the bar," Rice said. "There may well be chatter, and I'll call it chatter," Rice said, about other options, but she did not sound concerned about divisions within the international coalition arrayed against Iran.

Rice dismissed one possible half-measure - a partial suspension of the activities that most concern the West, and U.N. monitoring of any ongoing work.

"I don't know what partial suspension means," Rice said, adding that to her the term means all or nothing. "I don't know what partial suspension would look like, and it doesn't seem to me to be a very wise course."

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Pertinent Links:

1) U.S. allies explore compromise with Iran

2) Rice Rejects Lowering Bar for Iran Talks