Gulf nations plan delegation to Iran for nuclear talks

Arab Gulf nations plan to send an envoy to Iran to press it to find a negotiated solution to its nuclear stand-off with the United Nations in a new diplomatic effort after months of staying on the sidelines, officials said today.

The foray comes at a sensitive time. Iran said it was waiting to see what offer the Europeans present to resolve the confrontation – taking a somewhat more open tone than staunch rejections voiced by officials in recent weeks.

Gulf governments, most of them close US allies, have been wary of taking an active role in the dispute. Though they have little desire to see a nuclear Iran, they also fear angering their powerful neighbour by siding too openly with the US.

But the Gulf Co-operation Council, a gathering of the region’s Arab nations, will send the Omani Foreign Ministry Youssef al-Alawi to Tehran in coming days to “relay” Gulf concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, and its “hopes” that the stand-off with the West would end peacefully,” Khaled al-Jarrallah, the under-secretary of Kuwait’s foreign ministry, said.

In Kuwait, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the GCC “is starting its own diplomatic initiative in order to reopen the channels to a diplomatic solution”.

At a press conference with Steinmeier, Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Sabah said the envoy aimed “to get Tehran to (agree to) comprehensive co-operation with the international community.”

“The nuclear activities in the Gulf region are a real concern, not just a virtual concern,” he said.

The five UN Security Council nations plus Germany are working on a draft proposal that would offer Iran an end to UN Security Council pressure if it agrees to suspend uranium enrichment and would give economic incentives. But if Iran refuses, it would face sanctions backed by the threat of force.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki cast doubt on the deal yesterday saying that “suspending nuclear activities goes against our legitimate rights”.

But today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran will respond to the European proposal once it officially receives it.