Oct 1, 2009 7:31 am US/Pacific
U.S., Iranian Diplomats Meet One-On-One
First Time The Two Nations Have Met In Years, Diplomats Meet In Geneva To Discuss Iran's Nuclear Program
GENEVA (CBS News) ―
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The U.S. says senior American and Iranian delegates have met one-on-one on the sidelines of a high-stakes gathering on Tehran's nuclear program.
U.S. spokesman Robert Wood says U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns met with Saeed Jalili, Tehran's chief negotiator.
Western diplomats said the two discussed issues during a lunch break at Thursday's seven-nation talks in Geneva. Wood, and two Western diplomats who demanded anonymity for discussing the confidential information, declined to elaborate.
It is the first known direct high-level meeting between Washington and Tehran in years of attempts to persuade Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment program. Iran says the program is peaceful, some western nations fear it could eventually produce nuclear weapons.
CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports that this is the first time there have been serious, official talks between Iran and the United States in 30 years, and American diplomats, speaking off the record at least, have very modest, but realistic expectations.
Palmer reports that the most tangible indicator of "success" after Thursday's meeting will be a scheduled follow-up round of negotiations by the same parties. If Iran and the Western powers can't agree to that, it will have been largely a failure.
"This will be an agenda-setting meeting. If it's a success, they will talk today to set out a plan for how to keep talking," explains Palmer, reporting from the site of the summit.
While the West fears that Iran's nuclear program aims to make a bomb, Iran insists the program is strictly for peaceful use and has refused to negotiate any limits on it.
Palmer reports that the Obama administration and Solana are aiming for an eventual "freeze for freeze" deal, which would see Washington drop it's push for further sanctions and Iran halt expansion of it's nuclear enrichment program - not a total freeze of the nuclear program, just its growth.
There does seem to be some "wiggle room" between the Iranian regime's stance and that of the United States and its allies. Palmer says the White House's implicit acceptance of Iran as a nuclear powered state - with the right to enrich fissile material on their own soil, may provide key in the negotiations.
A senior Obama administration official told Palmer ahead of the talks that an eventual deal could include an Iranian enrichment program inside Iran, provided that it was well-monitored by international nuclear authorities.
Palmer, who has covered Iran extensively in recent years and travelled to the country on multiple occasions, says the Iranians genuinely seem interested in engaging the international community in these talks. "They don't want to be the ones to adjourn and walk out. They are too aware of pressure at home."
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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