Say Anything Blog

Because it puts Iran between a rock and a hard place.

TEHRAN, Iran May 31, 2006 (AP)— The official Iranian news agency said Wednesday the U.S. offer to join in direct talks with Iran about its disputed nuclear program was “a propaganda move.”

The American proposal, a major policy shift after decades without official public contact between the two countries, was made conditional on Iran agreeing to stop its uranium enrichment activities.

“It’s evident that the Islamic Republic of Iran only accepts proposals and conditions that meet the interests of the nation and the country. Halting enrichment definitely doesn’t meet such interests,” IRNA said at the end of a dispatch reporting the offer of talks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“Given the insistence by Iranian authorities on continuing uranium enrichment, Rice’s comments can be considered a propaganda move,” IRNA said.

Earlier, an Iranian lawmaker was quoted as saying any direct talks with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program must be held without preconditions.

Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said the U.S. move might be viewed positively in Tehran if preconditions were dropped, according to the Student News Agency.

Iran is never going to back away from enriching uranium, so they were never going to agree to these talks. Yet offering the talks exposes Iran's real intentions. The country isn't interested in talks, it is interested in enriching lots and lots of uranium for nuclear weapons. The talks are just a pretense meant to buy enrichment time.

Rice's offering of talks to Iran, and their subsequent rejection, illustrates this perfectly.

The only possible mistake that can be made here is for America to concede to Iran the right to continue enrichment during the talks. Now that the Bush administration has drawn this line in the sand erasing it would be folly.