European officials greeted with enthusiasm a conditional US offer to participate directly in diplomatic negotiations over Iran's nuclear ambitions, saying the move bolsters prospects for a peaceful resolution.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced in May 2006 that Washington would join European partners at the negotiating table with Iran, provided Tehran first fully and verifiably halted its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities. The offer represented the first opening for substantive US-Iran dialogue in 26 years.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the announcement "an important statement" that strengthened hopes for a new cooperative relationship with Iran built on mutual confidence.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, one of three European ministers leading earlier diplomatic outreach to Tehran alongside his British and German counterparts, said US involvement would lend greater weight to the proposals Europe intended to present to Iran.
Rice made the announcement as she prepared to travel to Vienna for a multilateral meeting of world powers focused on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.