Dreamland. Iran’s “peaceful intentions”? “Serious, meaningful dialogue”? The latter phrase sounds as if he is semaphoring that significant American concessions are in the offing if Iran will drop the nuclear plans — or pretend to do so. “Obama Says He’s Still Open to ‘Meaningful Dialogue’ With Iran,” by Edwin Chen for Bloomberg, September 26 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said he remains open to “a serious, meaningful dialogue” with Iran after the U.S., France and Britain disclosed the Islamic Republic has been building a secret nuclear-fuel facility.
Iran first must “cooperate fully” with international arms inspectors and “take actions to demonstrate its peaceful intentions,” the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
Obama, keeping up pressure on Tehran, said the underground nuclear facility poses “a serious challenge to the global nonproliferation regime, and continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion.”
The president along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown disclosed its existence yesterday morning at the Group of 20 nations summit in Pittsburgh. They demanded Iran submit to international demands that it halt uranium enrichment and fully open its nuclear program to inspectors.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday disputed the accusation and called the site “a very ordinary facility in the beginning stages.”
The disclosure precedes talks Oct. 1 in Geneva, when the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia — the five permanent United Nations Security Council members — and Germany will sit for negotiations with Iran to limit its nuclear program.
New Urgency
Those talks “now take on added urgency,” Obama said.
The president said Iran “must pursue a new course or face consequences.” Without specifying what sanctions Iran might encounter, Obama said the government in Tehran “will face increased pressure and isolation, and deny opportunity to their own people.”
Obama stood by his past offers to negotiate.
“My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open,” he said….