Iran offers to restart nuclear talks but US still warns of sanctions

VIENNA (AFP) - Iran offered to restart nuclear talks with the European Union but the EU and Washington were still pressing for sanctions if Tehran refuses to halt atomic work that could be weapons-related.

Six world powers were to meet in Vienna Thursday to bridge differences over offering Iran trade and other benefits in return for guarantees it will not make nuclear weapons, while still preparing for sanctions if Tehran does not comply, spokesmen in capitals confirmed.

The United States said it was optimistic a plan would be endorsed to end the crisis over an Iranian nuclear program which Washington fears hides the secret development of atomic weapons.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to leave Washington Wednesday for the Vienna talks.

"I think the assessment right now is that we feel as though we're in pretty good shape going into Vienna," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.

He declined to give details "until we really have the whole thing put together, ministers and capitals having blessed it, and ready to talk about it in public."

A Western diplomat told AFP that disagreements among the six nations centered around the timing of a UN Security Council resolution, if one was needed to require Iran to comply, and which would open the door to sanctions.

Russia and China want to delay any sanctions but the United States, France, Germany and Britain want them imposed quickly following any Iranian non-compliance, the diplomat said.

At stake is whether Iran will stop making enriched uranium, which can be used for nuclear power reactor fuel or atom bomb material, as the six powers all demand.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday in Malaysia that Iran was "ready to respond positively in resuming negotiations (with the EU) on Iran's nuclear enrichment program without any preconditions."

The United States greeted the news by saying: "We are glad they are going back to the EU-3 (Britain, Germany and France) talks and we hope that they produce productive results," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

But it was not clear if Iran was ready to meet EU-3 demands that Tehran stop all uranium enrichment work if the talks were to resume.

The talks broke off last August when Iran resumed uranium conversion that is the first step in enriching uranium.

Then in April Iran finally enriched a small amount of uranium, but only to levels adequate for reactor fuel and not to the more refined weapons-grade.

A senior European diplomat in Vienna described the new Iranian offer as "meaningless."

"We know there cannot be negotiations just like that," the diplomat said, referring to Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment work.

Officials in Tehran indicated that Iran may be willing to hold off on industrial-level enrichment using huge numbers of centrifuges and limit itself to research-scale work.

But the US position is that not one centrifuge should be spinning, in order to keep Iran from obtaining knowledge that would represent a "break-out" capability for making nuclear weapons.

Iran signalled Tuesday that it would study an EU-3 draft proposal of possible benefits and sanctions that is to be finalized in Vienna Thursday, but stuck by its refusal to halt sensitive uranium enrichment work.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday that Iran's reaction to the EU-3-drafted offer would be crucial.

"If they reject (it), it will be once again a clear sign (that) what they are looking (for) is not only the production of energy, but they are looking for a level (of) enrichment going way beyond," Solana said in Brussels.

According to a draft text seen by AFP, but which was being revised, the possible sanctions include an arms embargo on Iran -- something Russia, a major arms supplier to Iran, and China, a major consumer of Iranian oil, resist.

On the benefits side, the EU-3 proposal says world powers should help Iran build light water reactors to help its civilian nuclear energy program.