Iran and world powers seeking to resolve a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program will start talks Oct. 1, in what a senior US official described as an “important first step.” In Vienna, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog urged the UN Security Council to give it more powers to prevent the spread of atom bomb technology and avoid relying on sanctions he said often did not work. Mohamed ElBaradei's call was a clear reference to the case of Iran, which is expanding a declared uranium enrichment program without clarifying allegations of illicit nuclear weapons research. A spokeswoman for European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed he had talked to Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on the phone and that they had agreed on a meeting on Oct. 1. “Iran is ready for a serious dialogue in October,” Jalili said. Solana has been representing the six powers – the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia –- in long-running efforts to defuse the row over Iranian atomic activity which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. “It's an important first step and we are hoping for the best,” US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said in Vienna about the talks. The six powers had called for urgent talks with Iran after it handed new proposals to their representatives on Wednesday. The venue for the talks was still to be decided. According to a copy of the proposals obtained and published by US non-profit investigative journalism group, Pro Publica, Iran said it was prepared to hold “comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive negotiations.” The talks would address nuclear disarmament as well as a global framework for the use of “clean nuclear energy,” the document said, without specifically referring to Iran's own nuclear program. Foreign ministers of the six powers will meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week to prepare for the talks with Iran, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. On Sunday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran would not to negotiate over Tehran's right to nuclear technology. “Having peaceful nuclear technology is Iran's lawful and definite right and Iranians will not negotiate with anyone over their undeniable rights,” he said. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi reiterated Tehran's position Monday: “Iran will not talk about its definite rights, but as you might be aware, a part of the proposed (Iranian) package addresses removal of global concerns ... (and) nuclear disarmament,” he said.
