Iran wants direct nuke talks with US

UNITED STATES: Iran is making explicit requests for direct talks on its nuclear program, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. officials, Iranian analysts and foreign diplomats.

Senior Iranian officials have asked intermediaries to make clear to Washington their appetite for direct talks, the newspaper said.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, was among those approached to carry the message, the newspaper said, citing several diplomats and Saeed Laylaz, an analyst in Tehran and former government official.

According to the report, Iranian officials also made requests through Indonesia, Kuwait and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to convey their interest to Washington.

"This is a sign of changing strategy. They realize the situation is dangerous and they should not waste time, that they should reach out," Laylaz told The Washington Post.

A State Department spokeswoman, Nancy Beck, said there would be no immediate comment on the Post's story.

The White House has dismissed calls for direct talks with Iran to resolve the stand-off over its nuclear program.

Meanwhile world powers meet in London to discuss a package of incentives and threats drafted by European countries aimed at defusing a crisis over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.

Senior officials from U.N. Security Council permanent members China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain, plus Germany, will try to narrow divisions over how to proceed to persuade Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment work.

Officials will discuss an offer of incentives and warnings hammered out by the European Union trio.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the countries had to work together to encourage Tehran to halt its nuclear programme.

"Obviously we'd like to solve this issue peacefully and diplomatically, and the more the Iranians refuse to negotiate in good faith the more countries are beginning to realize that we must continue to work together," Bush said at a news conference on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

But Bush said Iran had so far not shown signs of agreeing.

"We're spending a lot of time working with our Russian friends in particular to make it clear to them that Iran is showing no good faith," Bush said.

British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett told parliament on Tuesday: "It is the intention to encourage Iran to see the nature of the choice that lies before it."

The package is likely to include an offer of a light-water reactor and an assured supply from abroad of fuel for civilian atomic plants so Iran would not have to enrich uranium itself.

Enriched uranium can be used as a nuclear fuel, but is also a key component of atomic weapons.

The package will also warn of possible sanctions if Iran, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, refuses the offer.

Meanwhile Asia's foreign policy heavyweights held talks on how best to rein in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, in a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of a regional economic forum in Doha.

Host nation Qatar said the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, which includes Asian and Middle Eastern countries and would cover energy, finance, technology and tourism. "It is going to focus on economic issues, not politics," said Qatari assistant foreign minister Mohammed Abdullah Al Rumaihi.

But in bilateral talks, the focus was on the international deadlock over the nuclear programmes of Tehran and Pyongyang.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts Taro Aso and Ban Ki-moon, and repeated Moscow's opposition to taking too tough a line with Tehran.

China, another key player at the Doha forum which like Russia wields a veto on the U.N. Security Council, is also opposed to imposing sanctions on Iran.

Washington,London,Doha, Wednesday Reuters.