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Burns: West ready to negotiate with Iran

Zagreb (Croatia): U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns on Friday said the United States and its European allies were willing to negotiate with Iran "any time, any place" about its nuclear programme, but that Tehran remained ambivalent.

Mr. Burns spoke in Zagreb a day after a meeting in Berlin with representatives from China, France, Britain, Russia and Germany, on ways to get Iran to halt its disputed uranium enrichment programme.

German officials said the meeting was seeking to prepare another round of talks between the European Union Foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. "We are willing to meet them any time, any place," Mr. Burns said, adding that the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said she "would like to be at these negotiations."

"Ambivalent"

"But the Iranian Government cannot bring itself to say `yes'" to such talks, Mr. Burns said. "They're waiting, they're ambivalent, they're not giving the straight answer."

AP

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