Special Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis    

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (L) stands next to Irans chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili before a meeting on nuclear issues at the Town Hall in Geneva July 19, 2008.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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GENEVA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana started talks Saturday with Irans nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili over Tehrans disputed nuclear program in the presence of U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns.

Burns, the first U.S. diplomat to attend negotiations with Iran in 30 years, will be listening, not negotiating, in the talks, U.S. officials said. But his presence was widely seen as a major policy shift by Washington on Iran.

At the one-day meeting, Solana is expected to sound out Irans position on the long-standing dispute. The West fears that Irans nuclear program is aimed at making atomic bombs instead of generating power. Tehran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.

The talks would focus on an updated package of incentives offered by six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) to Tehran in a bid to breathe life into the deadlocked talks.

The package of incentives suggests that Iran get a temporary reprieve from economic and financial sanctions in exchange for freezing its enrichment activities.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (L) shakes hand with Irans chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili before a meeting on nuclear issues at the Town Hall in Geneva July 19, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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Preliminary negotiations over a permanent halt could then begin, although the United States would not join them until after Iran agrees to fully suspend uranium enrichment.

Iran responded to the package in a letter to Solana early this month and also presented its own package of proposals to the world powers.

Neither Solana nor Jalili made any comments as they went into talks at a Geneva city government building. Burns did not speak either.

Shortly before the meeting, a senior Iranian official said Iran will not halt its uranium enrichment, a key demand of the West.

There is no chance that Iran will stop its uranium enrichment, the official, Keyvan Imani, said.

The Iranian rejection cast doubt on the meeting as the United States has set the freeze of uranium enrichment as a precondition for the start of real negotiations.

That remains the U.S. position and it will continue to be the U.S. position, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Washington.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki hailed the nuclear talks as a positive step, adding that more meetings may be needed to produce results.

We evaluate todays Geneva negotiations as positive and constructive, Mottaki told reporters. Todays meeting might continue with several others so that the view points of all sides can be put on the table.

The Iranian foreign minister hoped the talks will create a framework for future negotiations aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate.

I hope that todays talks will lead to a framework for negotiations, he said, adding that the talks can satisfy both sides.

Iranian FM says nuclear talks signal positive outlook

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki speaks during a news conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York July 2, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)