Iranians Blink - Offer Up Proposal To U.N. For Talks

Interesting stuff here - it certainly appears to me that the Iranians have definitely blinked in the stare down over their acquiring nuclear weapons. Sure, they do a bit more whining about sanctions but the fact of the matter is they have offered up a proposal for talks and negotiations through the United Nations. Here's a bit from the AP article here:

Iran's EU ambassador Ali Ashgar Khaji said the proposal presented to Solana was designed to resolve international concerns over his country's nuclear program and address wider security issues. Solana's office welcomed the overture, and said he would pass the proposal on to Germany, France and Britain, which are trying to engage Iran on its nuclear program along with the United States, Russia and China.

Now, one could argue pretty effectively that this is just a stalling manuever by the Iranians but in my mind, they don't need to stall - they have effectively stalled the whole issue now for two years. No, I firmly believe that this is a sign of some nervousness in Tehran. I think the mullahs have had a little huddle and they don't like the signs they are seeing from the West and from Israel.

Personally, I don't even see this as some sort of response to how the sanctions may have affected the Iranians - I think they have seen U.S. naval manuevers, they have read statements by Israeli military commanders and they have seen a sort of "quiet" fall over the whole issue in the past two months. If you are the Iranians and you are sitting on that nuclear weapons facility and all of a sudden, the West gets very quiet on the subject and President Bush has just been to Israel ... it can make for some restless sleep.

I doubt that any talks will take place and it is my hope that the Western nations and all of the security council of the U.N. will not even respond to this request by the Iranians. That would really get the mullahs pacing the local mosques.

Iran calls UN sanctions illegal, offers a proposal for talks

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Iran's new offer for international talks touches on a broad range of topics, but fails to address U.N. Security Council calls for Tehran to give up uranium enrichment, according to a copy of the offer obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
The Islamic Republic also sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon complaining that it was "illegal" for the Security Council to impose sanctions against the country for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.
In the letter, which was also obtained by the AP, Iran obliquely slams the U.S. and its allies for their pursuit of the sanctions.
Both the letter and the document, entitled "The Islamic Republic of Iran's Proposed Package for Constructive Negotiations," were sent to Ban on Tuesday. A copy of the offer was given Wednesday to Javier Solana, the chief EU foreign policy official who has held a series of abortive talks with Iranian representatives.
Iran's EU ambassador Ali Ashgar Khaji said the proposal presented to Solana was designed to resolve international concerns over his country's nuclear program and address wider security issues. Solana's office welcomed the overture, and said he would pass the proposal on to Germany, France and Britain, which are trying to engage Iran on its nuclear program along with the United States, Russia and China.
Still, the proposal was unlikely to be taken up by the six powers as a new basis for negotiations. Beyond outlining terms that were sure to be rejected as too broad and vague, it avoided any direct mention of the issue the six world powers have been pursuing — a freeze on uranium enrichment before any talks on Tehran's nuclear ambitions begin.
The six nations first offered Tehran a package of economic, technological and political incentives nearly two years ago on the condition that it suspend enrichment, which can be used both to generate nuclear fuel or to make the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iran, which insists its enrichment aims are peaceful, has consistently rejected a freeze during on-off talks with Solana, who negotiates for the six. This month, those world powers agreed on repackaging the incentives in what diplomats described as mainly cosmetic changes to the original 2006 offer, while maintaining the threat of further U.N. sanctions.