U.S. agrees to Iran, North Korea talks

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By Nicholas Kralev and Barbara Slavin

The Obama administration, carrying out its campaign pledge to engage difficult regimes, agreed Friday to hold direct talks with Iran and North Korea, even though both countries have so far refused to address Washington's main concerns related to nuclear weapons and Iran is in internal political turmoil.

While the negotiations with Iran are to be held together with five other major powers, those with North Korea will be bilateral, excluding Pyongyang's neighbors and other regional players, the State Department said.

The announcement on a Friday afternoon by State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley followed North Korea's refusal to return to multilateral talks and Iran's vague proposal for far-ranging negotiations with world powers.

Iran put forward the plan earlier this week in the aftermath of disputed presidential elections and mass protests that have undercut the legitimacy of the government and made U.S. engagement with Tehran even more politically sensitive and controversial. Iran was also facing Western pressure to begin negotiations before the end of this month or face new economic sanctions.

"We are seeking a meeting now based on the Iranian paper to see what Iran is prepared to do," Mr. Crowley said. "Now we are willing to meet with Iran. We hope to meet with Iran. We want to see serious engagement on the nuclear issue, in particular."

Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to engage with Iran and has sent several overtures to the Iranian people and government including a message on the Persian New Year and two letters to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ayatollah Khamenei responded to at least one of the letters, The Washington Times has reported. The exchange took place before Iran's June 12 presidential elections, which the regime says were won by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but many Iranians believe were won by his chief opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

"The dilemma is that it took us 30 years to prepare ourselves to recognize the legitimacy of the Iranian government only to find out that the Iranian government is no longer legitimate," said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In its five-page proposal, Iran said it was ready to "embark on comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive negotiations," but suggested that it sought a major change in regional security decisions and ignored the West's main demand - that it come clean on its nuclear program and suspend enriching uranium.

U.S. and European officials said they hope that, once they sit down with the Iranians, they might be able to put the nuclear issue on the agenda.

"If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue," Mr. Crowley said. "So we are seeking a meeting because, ultimately, the only way that we feel we are going to be able to resolve these issues is to have a meeting."