U.S. to engage in group talks with Iran

WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- The United States will participate directly in talks with Iran over its program suspected of developing nuclear weapons, the State Department said Wednesday.

The decision to participate in the talks was conveyed to representatives of the so-called P5-plus-1 group by U.S. diplomat William Burns during a meeting in London.

The P5-plus-1 refers the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

"On the nuclear issue, the U.S. remains committed to the P5-plus-1 process," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "What is different is that the U.S. will join P5-plus-1 discussions with Iran from now on."

Burns outlined to the group President Barack Obama's and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's goal on Iran, "which is to explore diplomatic solutions to the very serious areas of concern," Wood said. "A diplomatic solution necessitates a willingness to engage directly with each other on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interests, and we hope that the government of Iran chooses to reciprocate."

He said the group asked Javier Solana, the European Union's representative for common and foreign security policy, to invite Iran to meet representatives of the P5-plus-1.

"If Iran accepts, we hope this will be the occasion to seriously engage Iran on how to break the logjam of recent years and work in a cooperative manner to resolve the outstanding international concerns about its nuclear program," Wood said.