U.N. Security Council to resume Iran nuke talks

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes the victory sign after voting at a polling station in Tehran March 2, 2012. / AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 2:46 p.m. ET

(AP) TEHRAN, Iran - Efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's disputed nuclear program appeared to get a boost Tuesday when world powers agreed to a new round of talks with Tehran, and Iran gave permission for inspectors to visit a site suspected of secret atomic work.

The two developments appeared to counter somewhat the crisis atmosphere over Iran's nuclear program, the focus of talks in Washington between President Obama and Israel's visiting prime minister.

Speaking at his first news conference this year, Mr. Obama said he saw a "window of opportunity" to use diplomacy instead of military force to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Mr. Obama also reiterated that his policy on Iran is not one of containment, but of stopping Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

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The U.S. and its allies say Iran is on a path that could eventually lead to the production of a nuclear weapon. Iran denies that, insisting that its program is for energy production and other peaceful purposes.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed to a new round of nuclear talks with Iran more than a year after suspending them in frustration. Previous talks have not achieved what the powers want — an end to uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.

Ashton said in a statement that the EU hopes Iran "will now enter into a sustained process of constructive dialogue which will deliver real progress in resolving the international community's long-standing concerns on its nuclear program."

The time and venue of the new talks have not been set.

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In Washington, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Iran must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions and stop uranium enrichment. "We still believe diplomacy coupled with strong pressure can achieve the long-term solution we seek," he said in a statement.

Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, said in a statement that the onus would "be on Iran to convince the international community that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called for a diplomatic solution. "A nuclear-armed Iran must be prevented," he said.

Ashton was responding to a February letter from Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, in which he proposed new discussions.

For years, Iran has executed a dual strategy of taking steps to advance its nuclear program while proposing more talks, which some critics have dismissed as a time-buying tactic.

The Security Council announcement comes less than two weeks after U.N. experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency returned from Tehran from their second failed attempt within a month to persuade Iran to end nearly four years of stonewalling on what the agency says is growing intelligence-based information that Iran has worked -- and may still be working -- on components of a nuclear weapons program.

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This week Mr. Obama warned the U.S. would use military action to protect its interests if necessary, while appealing for time for sanctions against Iran to show their affects. In his public statements during a visit to Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Mr. Obama for his support but did little to counter concerns that Israel might go ahead on its own with an attack on Iran. Israel considers Iran an existential threat because of its nuclear program and its references to destruction of the Jewish state.

The IAEA last year published a report that included what it said was evidence of Iranian activity that could be linked to weapons development. The head of the agency, Yukiya Amano, said Monday that his organization has "serious concerns" that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work, singling out the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.

On Tuesday, Iran appeared to respond partially to those concerns, granting long-sought permission to IAEA inspectors to visit the Parchin compound. Iran describes the site as a military base, not a nuclear facility.

The semi-official ISNA news agency stated a key condition: such a visit would require an agreement between the two sides on guidelines.

"Given that Parchin is a military site, access to this facility is a time-consuming process, and it can't be visited repeatedly," ISNA quoted the Iranian statement as saying. It added that following repeated IAEA demands, "permission will be granted for access once more."

Inspecting Parchin was a key request by senior IAEA teams that visited Tehran in January and February. Iran rebuffed those demands at the time, as well as attempts by the nuclear agency's team to question Iranian officials and secure other information linked to the allegations of secret weapons work.

The Parchin complex has been often mentioned in the West as a suspected base for secret nuclear experiments — a claim Iran consistently denies. IAEA inspectors visited the site in 2005, but only one of four areas on the grounds, reporting no unusual activities.

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[notreich]

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany agreed to a new round of nuclear talks with Iran. Iran agrees, also to inspection. The Pentagan and State Department are all for diplomacy and negotiation and continued sanctions. Britain is on board. Maybe this will tamp down great leaders like Santorum and Romney talking up a war with Iran (to up gas prices before the election.)

[DavidFPawlowski]

With all respect to the editorial staff of CBS News; you folks are buying into a big assumption that really deserves challenging. That assumption is that Iran does not already have (North Korean made) nuclear weapons. Start with the basic math; Iran has used its oil, food and hard currency to purchase from the North Koreans , nuclear enrichment centrifuges as well as multiple IRBM missile systems including 18 of the latest MiRV variant that can strike every major city in Israel and all US/NATO bases in the gulf, the med and throughout southern Europe. Iran has also used North Korean expertise to help construct its labryinth of underground military bases including the Quds force controlled IRBM launch facility. Do you folks in the media really believe that North Korea (NK) would not have made a sweet offer to Iran since it (NK) dropped out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 to set up a secret base within the Quds facility that is North Korean territory to hold and manage as proxy enough nuclear weapons to rain hell upon Israel and any who dares to stand against Iran? Parse the language and the bluster of the recent Iranian leadership comments, all play the nudge wink game and invoke North Korea, and then start talking about burning Israel and destroying it wholesale as well as striking US interests globally. This isn't Saddam this time; it is a highly advanced military power that is run by fanatics and which has the means to start a major regional war that could return fire with a nuclear capability that is sitting on base equivalent of North Korean embassy property (e.g. soverign soil) which would explain a great deal. Given the fact the Iranians have conducted direct flights to North Korea since 2003 for high value military commodities, again it is very plausible Iran has immediate access to operational nuclear weapons. Think about CBS and ask the questions before someone does something really stupid.

[mjlewis6]

The NPT requires IAEA oversight and accoutability of the signator state to inspections and verification.

The levels of enrichment beyond that necessary for medical and peaceful purposes indicates other pursuits. That pursuit of higher levels of enrichment along with NO explanation for the Iranian possession of documents for plate formation of a nuclear weapon shell of plutonium is what got the IAEA involved to begin with on this path several years ago.

Burial of enrichment facilities to prevent bombing is just another indication of the PEACEFUL nature of this process that Iran does not want to reveal....??? Really??

The sad fact is that the technical expertise for weapons manufacture means people, not equipment and buildings, are the target. Let diplomacy work and the sanctions change the minds of the average citizen as to what the Iranian government is actually doing...and they will effect change.

[robo_duck]

Demanding that Iran halt all nuclear enrichment is unreasonable and not going to happen, so the west needs to moderate their demands that Iran merely allow regular IAEA inspections to ensure it does not enrich beyond what is needed for its domestic nuclear power needs or to supply its medical research reactor. As long as Iran does so, it has every right under the NPT to enrich for peaceful purposes, and so far there is no real evidence that they are doing anything but that.