New western strategy on Iran drafted in New York, Spiegel reports

Sep 23, 2006, 15:31 GMT

Hamburg - A new western strategy in diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons had been agreed at talks in New York, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday.

It said the complex diplomatic game-plan would create a new last chance for a possible agreement on the nuclear research programme.

The magazine's report, to hit the streets Monday, said the aim would be to attract Iran back to the negotiating table after the expiry of a UN Security Council deadline. The world body has so far insisted that Iran must stop enriching uranium before talks resume.

The new model would allow for 'pre-discussions' with a time limit, during which the Iranians would have to cease enrichment.

These talks would initially be conducted by the European Union's Javier Solana. The west hoped he would meet during the coming week with Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Larijani, in Brussels.

If Solana's contacts suggested success in store, Paris, London and Berlin would then continue the consultations. Only when there was a prospect of formal negotiations would the United States join in.

If this division of roles did not break the logjam, a debate on serious sanctions against Iran, as favoured by Washington, would become unavoidable, according to unnamed German diplomats quoted by the magazine.

It said the plan had been thought out at a New York dinner of the so-called Five Plus One group comprising the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had attended while at the UN General Assembly.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who gave the dinner, did not approve the plan, but indicated she would tolerate it, the magazine said.