TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's foreign minister said Saturday that talks with world powers on his country's nuclear program were a "possibility" -- an apparent step up from Tehran's offer this week to discuss only "global challenges" with the West.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said he welcomed talks with the U.S. and its partners, adding that "should conditions be ripe, there is a possibility of talks about the nuclear issue."
The remarks came on the heel's of a decision by the United States and partner nations to accept Iran's proposal for talks -- even though Tehran had said the nuclear issue was not on the table -- and indicated Iran's eagerness for a direct dialogue.
Iran on Wednesday presented the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the U.S., Russia, France, Britain and China -- plus Germany with a proposal to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive" talks on a range of security issues, including global nuclear disarmament.
The five-page document made no mention of Tehran's suspected nuclear program, which the West fears masks a nuclear arms pursuit but which Tehran asserts is only for electricity production.
It also ignored binding UN Security Council resolutions that require Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment, which is a possible pathway to nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that Tehran will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights. But Mottaki's comments to reporters on Saturday appeared to soften that stance, indicating Iran's nuclear program was not off limits.
"Should the conditions be ripe, there is a possibility of talks about the nuclear issue with the West, given the new package we have presented," Mottaki was quoted as saying on state television.
U.S. officials say Iran is close to having the capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon should it make a political decision to do so.
They say the latest report by the UN nuclear watchdog agency shows that Tehran is either very near or already in possession of sufficient low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, if the decision were made to further enrich it to weapons-grade.
The International Atomic Energy Agency describes in its latest report how Iran now has, at a minimum, 1,430 kilograms of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride.
Iran insists its program is peaceful but the West worries it is covertly trying to build a bomb.
President Barack Obama and European allies have given Iran until the end of September to take up an offer of nuclear talks with six world powers and trade incentives should it suspend uranium enrichment activities. If not, Iran could face harsher punitive sanctions.
Iran already has defied three sets of UN Security Council sanctions since 2006 for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.
U.S. State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley said Friday that although Iran's proposal had sidestepped the nuclear issue, it represented a chance for a dialogue.
The decision to take up Iran's offer was communicated publicly Friday in Brussels, Belgium, by Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief who is an intermediary for the six powers.
Crowley said there is no assumption that new talks with Iran will be productive.
The Obama administration has expressed interest in discussing numerous other issues with Iran, including co-operation in stabilizing two Iranian neighbours -- Afghanistan and Iraq -- as well as alleged Iranian support for terrorist groups.
