Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana held talks in Geneva on July 19 on the long-running nuclear standoff. Both sides agreed to resume negotiations in another two weeks after Tehran ruled out freezing its uranium enrichment program. Solana however stated that the meeting was ‘constructive.’ Undersecretary of State William Burns participated in the negotiations, which was the highest level of diplomatic contact between the Islamic Republic and the US in over 30 years. Washington had cut diplomatic ties with Tehran shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when militant students seized the US Embassy in Teheran. The Bush administration in June had also announced that it was considering setting up a diplomatic outpost in Iran. The talks followed the submission of a renewed package to Iran in mid-June which was intended to persuade Tehran to stop its enrichment work in exchange for some trade and technological incentives1.

Tehran meanwhile hosted the 15th meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) foreign ministers, which began on July 26. The 4-day conference was being attended by the organisation’s 118 member-states, 15 observer members, and eight international and regional organizations. NAM had earlier expressed its support for global efforts to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone. It had also issued a statement warning that Israel’s nuclear arsenal posed a major threat to Middle East security2.

• 1. “Jalili, Solana call Geneva talks ‘constructive’; Iran, EU to resume nuclear talks in 2 weeks,” Tehran Times, July 20, 2008 at http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=173417
• 2. “Tehran hosts NAM meeting today,” Tehran Times, July 27, 2008, at http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=174006