Iran, facing harsher sanctions targeting its economically vital oil exports, has told world powers it wants to resume long-frozen talks soon but left vague whether it is ready to address concerns about its nuclear activity, as they insist.
Tehran made the offer in a letter to the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton obtained by Reuters today, a day after it trumpeted several advances in nuclear know-how and sent oil prices upward with suggestions of economic reprisal in what may have been moves to boost its leverage before any fresh negotiations.
Iran's president vowed no retreat from its atomic path yesterday only for state television to announce the proposal to re-launch talks after a year's break - mixed signals making it difficult to divine what Tehran's intentions were.
Iranian chief negotiator Saeed Jalili's letter said he would have "new initiatives" but did not spell them out. He made one separate reference to "Iran's nuclear issue", without saying whether Tehran was prepared to negotiate on it.
His letter was a reply to one from Mrs Ashton in October in which she said the big powers could meet with Iran within weeks if it was ready to "engage seriously in meaningful discussions" tackling concerns about its nuclear quest.
Mr Jalili said he welcomed an earlier statement by Mrs Ashton on respecting Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
"No doubt by committing to this approach, our talks for cooperation based on step-by-step principles and reciprocity on Iran's nuclear issue could be commenced," said the English-language letter, obtained by Reuters.
"(A) constructive and positive attitude towards the Islamic Republic of Iran's new initiatives in this round of talks could open positive perspective for our negotiation," Mr Jalili said.
"Therefore...I propose to resume our talks in order to take fundamental steps for sustainable cooperation in the earliest possibility in a mutually agreed venue and time."
Mr Jalili added that dialogue should focus "on a spectrum of various issues which can provide ground for constructive and forward-looking cooperation".
His message resembled Iran's agenda in previous abortive talks, floating undefined ideas for security and trade cooperation while avoiding discussion of steps sought by world powers to guarantee that its nuclear programme is peaceful in nature and transparent for the UN atomic watchdog.
A spokeswoman for Mrs Ashton confirmed receipt of the letter yesterday, saying she was evaluating it and would consult with the six powers on a response.
The United States and its allies suspect Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons capability under cover of a declared civilian nuclear energy programme, and believe Tehran has sought to buy time with talks about unrelated matters.
Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity for a rapidly growing population.
Mrs Ashton handles the Iran file on behalf of six world powers - the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain.
Negotiations have been frozen since a fruitless meeting in Istanbul in January 2011.
Tensions have soared since the UN nuclear inspectors issued a report in November detailing intelligence reports indicating that Iran has worked on designing a nuclear weapon.
Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi, told a news conference that Tehran would accept "no preliminary conditions" for progress in any further talks.
He was responding to a question about a Russian suggestion that, as a first step toward a resolution of the standoff, Iran could take measures including freezing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment at current levels in return for assurances it would face no additional sanctions.
Reuters