Iran's nuke plan an issue dodger

PARIS — The Iranians called their proposal a "none paper," diplomatic jargon for an unofficial negotiating document.

Indeed, for officials of the six countries sitting on the other side of the table, the paper addressed none of their ideas for resolving the crisis over Iran's nuclear program.

Instead, the informal two-page document Iran distributed at nuclear talks in Geneva on Saturday ignored the main demand from six nations on curbing Iran's enrichment of uranium and called for concessions from the other side, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times.

For the six powers — the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — the paper's substance was just as disappointing as its style.

Sergei Kisliak, the Russian deputy foreign minister, could not suppress a laugh when he read it, according to one participant.

The talks Saturday included the participation of a senior U.S. official for the first time. The six powers were hoping that Iran would accept a compromise formula to pave the way to formal negotiations: For six weeks, Iran would not add "any new nuclear activity," refraining from the new installation of centrifuges that enrich uranium, and the United States and other powers would not seek new U.N. sanctions.

But both in their paper, and throughout the talks, the Iranians did not discuss the formula, called a "freeze for freeze." As a result, they left the impression that they wanted to lure the parties into open-ended, cost-free, high-level negotiations.

"The paper calls for a huge exercise in talking," said one senior European official. "If you were to try to implement it, it would take a minimum of several years." Officials spoke on condition of anonymity under normal diplomatic rules.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Iran on Monday that it could not continue to "stall" and warned of more sanctions if it defied a two-week deadline to accept the proposal.

Rice was briefed on the meeting Monday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, by the State Department's No. 3 diplomat, Undersecretary of State William Burns, who attended the session.

Both discussed Iran and other issues in closed-door meetings with foreign ministers and senior officials from six Gulf Arab states along with Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.

Along with the United States and Israel, the mainly Sunni Muslim Gulf Arabs are increasingly wary of majority Shiite Iran's muscle-flexing.

The Iranian document offered a snapshot of Iran's negotiating style.

It put the burden on the other parties. Its imprecise language and misspellings were in sharp contrast to the rigorous approach by Iranian negotiators in charge in 2003 when France, Britain and Germany began the initiative. Those diplomats have since been replaced.

The paper called for at least three more meetings with Javier Solana, the European Union foreign-policy chief, who represents the six powers. Those would be followed by at least four meetings at the foreign ministers' level, which would start with the halting of any sanctions against Iran, "both inside and outside" the U.N Security Council.

The Iranian document also seemed to suggest there could be no discussion of the main issue of contention: a limit on Iran's production of enriched uranium.

The six powers want to use their proposed freeze-for-freeze period as a prelude to formal negotiations. But Iran has to stop enriching uranium for the formal talks to begin.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.