US says to play full role in Iran talks

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   US President Barack Obama's administration said it will fully participate in any talks with Iran on its nuclear program, throwing the ball in Tehran's court with a new engagement policy.
   
   The United States and five other powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia -- earlier extended an invitation for direct talks with Iran, an arch US foe since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
   
   Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that William Burns, the State Department's number three official, would now take part in the dialogue "as a full participant, not just as an observer."
   
   "Obviously, we believe that pursuing very careful engagement on a range of issues that affect our interests -- and the interests of the world -- with Iran make sense," Clinton told reporters.
   
   "There's nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its effort to obtain nuclear weapons," she said after meeting with her Panamanian counterpart, Samuel Lewis Navarro.
   
   Clinton's predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, had set preconditions to the so-called P5 plus-one meetings involving Iran. Burns held only one such meeting in the presence of the Iranian negotiator, in July last year.
   
   Obama, voicing hope of turning a new page with Iran, sent an unprecedented video message last month for the Iranian New Year -- a sharp break from former US president George W. Bush who branded Tehran as part of an "axis of evil."
   
   Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who faces potentially tough elections in June, on Wednesday dismissed Obama's remarks that Iran can have nuclear technology for peaceful purposes but does not have the right to a bomb.
   
   "I am telling you that the Iranian nation was never seeking a bomb as the era of bombs and armies is over," Ahmadinejad told a rally as the crowd cheered with chants of "Death to America!"
   
   Iran has repeatedly denied that it intends to build a nuclear bomb. But six years of probes by the International Atomic Energy Agency -- the UN nuclear watchdog -- have been unable to confirm whether the program is peaceful.
   
   A European diplomat in Washington who requested anonymity said that Ahmadinejad's camp was feeling intense pressure faced with the repeated gestures of goodwill by the Obama administration.
   
   Karim Sadjadpour, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that while a consensus has emerged in Washington to engage in Iran, "I don't think Iranians have yet reached the same internal consensus."
   
   "There are still powerful forces in Tehran who believe that enmity toward the US is a fundamental pillar of the revolution and central to the identity of the Islamic Republic," Sadjadpour said.
   
   "The Obama administration can lead the Iranians to the dance floor, but they can't force them to tango if they're not yet ready," he said.
   
   State Department spokesman Robert Wood rejected criticism that the United States was moving too quickly with Iran, which has not replied to an earlier message on ways to improve relations.
   
   Wood said the United States was "living up to our commitments to reach out to Iran" and hoped that Tehran would respond in turn.
   
   The new US engagement with Iran comes despite concerns after Tehran charged a US-Iranian journalist with espionage on Wednesday.
   
   Prosecutors accused 31-year-old Roxana Saberi -- who worked for US National Public Radio, the BBC and Fox News -- of spying "under the guise of being a reporter." She has dual nationality, which Iran does not recognize.
   
   Clinton voiced hope for her "speedy release and return to her family."
   
   "We are deeply concerned by the news that we are hearing," Clinton said.

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