The United States will dispatch an envoy to talks with Iran's nuclear negotiator this weekend along with other world powers dealing with Tehran, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. According to Reuters, ghe official said U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns would for the first time join the EU's Javier Solana and envoys from China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany in a meeting on Saturday with Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva.
The six would discuss Tehran's response to an offer made by world powers last month to give up nuclear works Tehran says is for peaceful power generating purposes. The United States had said previously it would not be involved in any pre-negotiations with Tehran unless it gave up uranium enrichment and the meeting is a change to that policy.
"Bill Burns will reiterate our terms for negotiation remain the same," said the official, who asked not to be named according to department rules. "This will be a one-time participation designed to show unity (among major powers) and the message will be very clear," the official told Reuters.© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
