Iran talks

The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Iran is likely to open its new enrichment plant to United Nations nuclear watchdog inspectors within a few weeks.

"Iran has told us that it plans to cooperate fully and immediately with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the new enrichment facility near Qom," Solana told a press conference in Geneva on Thursday. He was speaking after talks on Iran's nuclear program between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany.

An IAEA spokeswoman confirmed that the organization's Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei will visit Iran at the invitation of the Iranian authorities.

"He will travel there soon to discuss a number of matters," spokeswoman Gill Tudor said in a statement.

A diplomat close to the IAEA, speaking on condition of anonymity, told news agency AFP that the invitation was "undeniably a gesture from Iran" toward the West in the standoff over its nuclear program.

The talks, in an 18th century villa overlooking Lake Geneva, marked a shift in relations. They were the first official high-level meeting of the US and Iran since the Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis in Tehran in 1979. Solana said it was important that the United States had participated fully in such talks for the first time.

Stalling will bring sanctions

Iran's negotiator Saeed Jalili said "good" discussions had taken place. But in Washington, US President Barack Obama warned that US patience was not unlimited.

Obama said Iran has a path to better relations with the international community. It must now take steps to ensure its nuclear program is not for weapons, he said.

"The Iranian government heard a clear and unified message from the international community in Geneva," Obama said. "Iran must demonstrate through concrete steps that it will live up to its responsibilities with respect to its nuclear program."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier Thursday she wanted Iran to take concrete actions.

"It was a productive day, but the proof of that has not yet come to fruition," Clinton told reporters in Washington. Clinton said she had discussed details of the meeting with William Burns, her envoy in Geneva, but did not share them with reporters.

Further talks to take place soon

Solana, who formally represented the Security Council's European veto powers and Germany at the talks, said a further meeting was planned. The next round of talks would take place before the end of October, he said.

"We agreed to intensify dialogue in the coming weeks," he said. He added that "this is only a start."

"We shall need to see progress on some of the practical steps we discussed today," Solana said.

There was also partial progress in discussing with Iran the possibility of enriching its uranium outside of the country. Solana said the world powers and Iran had agreed in principle on Iranian uranium being sent to a third country to be enriched and used for a research reactor in Tehran.

However, Solana said there was "not a complete response" from Iran about the six powers' offer of refraining from new sanctions, in return for Iran not expanding its enrichment program. Many countries fear the enriched uranium could be used for making a nuclear weapon.

sac/AP/AFP/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Michael Lawton