WASHINGTON (JTA) — Iranian officials have been meeting with U.S. nongovernment nuclear nonproliferation specialists for months.
The Cable, a column on Foreign Policy magazine’s Web site, reported Jan. 29 that Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog, has been on a team meeting with such U.S. experts as William Perry, a Clinton administration defense secretary who advised the campaign of President Obama.
The meetings have been taking place since last Spring in European cities, The Cable said, under the auspices of Pugwash, a Nobel peace laureate nonproliferation advocacy group that brings together scientists and political leaders who favor a nuclear weapons ban.
It remains unclear whether the talks fall under what is known as "Track 2" negotiations, in which nongovernmental experts have a government’s blessing to prepare the ground for formal negotiations.
Obama said during his campaign that he favors direct negotiations with Iran as part of his bid to have the regime end its suspected nuclear weapons program.
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