France sees ‘ambiguous’ but promising signs in Iran nuclear talks

Iranian dialogue over possibilities of resuming nuclear talks with world powers has been deemed “ambiguous” by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, in comments made in Vienna on Thursday.

Juppe said that a letter sent by Iranian nuclear negotiators to the European Union “remains ambiguous, but constitutes the start of opening up from Iran which says it is ready to talk about its nuclear program.”

Iran on Wednesday said it had replied to a letter sent nearly four months ago by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton proposing a resumption of stalled talks with world powers on its nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The letter, written by chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and handed to Ashton’s office, reads “Iran welcomes the readiness of the P5+1 group to return to negotiations in order to take fundamental steps toward further cooperation.”

The P5+1 consists of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus non-permanent member Germany.

“Iran is ready for the continuation of talks,” Jalili’s letter said, adding that Iran “welcomed a recent remark by Ms. Ashton that the European Union respects Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy.”

In response, the European Union said it received the letter from Iran and was “carefully studying” its content.

The last talks between Iran and the P5+1 took place in Istanbul a year ago and produced no results.

Since then, tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, particularly between Washington, the European Union and Tehran, have escalated dramatically.