Iran Willing to Talk…With Conditions

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded to offers for talks from the P5+1 group over the weekend. Ahmadinejad said that he was willing to talk if the group– the five permanent members of the security council plus Germany — are willing to make mention of Israel’s clandestine nuclear program.

The Washington Post reports, via AP‘s Nasser Karimi:

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s president on Sunday endorsed the idea of new talks with the international community over his country’s nuclear program, while warning that negotiations would fail if the West does not clearly come out against Israel’s suspected nuclear arsenal.

[…] In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it was up to Iran to set a date.

“Iran says it is ready to talk,” Crowley said. “Now it needs to commit to a date. Iran knows the phone number. We are awaiting Iran’s formal response.”

The blog of neocon pundit David Frum excerpted a CNN report under the headline “Iran won’t budge on nukes.” Part of the FrumForum’s excerpt read:

Ahmadinejad said that Iran is ready to hold talks, but warned that his country won’t yield any of its international rights to peaceful nuclear energy development, according to the reports.

As a non-nuclear signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is entitled to domestic nuclear enrichment and energy.