The five permanent members of the Security Council along with Germany have begun a brainstorming session on ways to deal with Iran.
The meeting of senior diplomats near Frankfurt will be followed by the Pittsburg summit of the G20 countries, later in September, which could consider imposition of fresh sanctions on Iran.
The talks in Germany began a day after Iran stated its intent to hold a wide-ranging dialogue with global powers without focusing on the nuclear issue alone.
The head of Iran’s national security council, Saeed Jalili announced on Tuesday that Tehran was ready with a new package of proposals which intended to promote “justice, peace and progress” in the world. Mr. Jalili’s statement came ahead of a mid-September deadline set for Iran by the White House to respond to an offer to resume talks on the nuclear issue.
The United States and its allies have expressed fears that Iran is pursuing development of nuclear weapons. Iran, on the other hand has insisted that its atomic programme is geared for producing electricity and other peaceful purposes.
Analysts say Iran is looking for a comprehensive dialogue with the six countries the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany — which should lead to a lasting stabilisation of their relationship.
In an earlier article in the Financial Times, Sadegh Kharrazi, a senior Iranian diplomat who was also involved in past negotiations with the European Union, said that Washington needed to adopt a give-and-take approach that would result in an overarching “grand bargain.”
According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said in July that Iran was working on a bigger package which dealt with political and economic issues as well as those related to security and international affairs.
