MAHMOUD WHO?:

Iran wants to talk (Kaveh L Afrasiabi, Feb 10, 2007, Asia Times)

Already Larijani has stated that one of the purposes of his participation at the conference is to "negotiate" on the issue of Iran's nuclear program, thus raising expectations in some European quarters about a potential breakthrough, given the timing coincidence of the conference with Iran's annual celebration of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the much-anticipated news of Iran's technological breakthrough heralding its entry to the "nuclear club".

"Diplomacy is the only path for important international and regional issues ... Diplomacy can bring trust between the two sides," Iran's former president and head of the powerful Exigency Council, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said this week.

As part of Iran's new determination to put diplomacy to work, given the February 21 deadline set by the United Nations Security Council for it to halt its uranium-enrichment program, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is increasingly directing Iran's moves, reflected in the dispatch of his personal envoy, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, to Moscow.

And by "negotiate" they mean trade Ahmedinejad's pipe dream for help with their economy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 9, 2007 11:38 AM