“Washington wants around six months to give dialogue with Iran enough of a chance,” according to an American source cited Sunday by Ash-Sharq il-Awsat, a major pan-Arabic daily newspaper. In an article by Tariq Alhomayed, the paper’s editor-in-chief, the source said that a few days ago, Washington completed a review of management policies on dealing with Iran.
The decision was that Washington would negotiate with Tehran on issues other than nuclear weapons, “such as Iraq and Afghanistan,” while the nuclear issues will remain in the hands of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. In addition, the U.S. will sit in on the “P5 plus 1” meetings with Iran (“P5 plus 1” refers to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – and the “plus 1” is Germany).
The source told Alhomayed, “Attending does not mean interfering or changing the rules of the game,” and said that the U.S. is viewing with "cautious anticipation” an upcoming meeting between Solana and Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator.