Iran to World Leaders: Let's Discuss Nuke Program

Iran said today it has proposed a new round of talks on its nuclear program with six world powers that have been trying for years to persuade Tehran to freeze aspects of its atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons production. The country's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said he has formally called on the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany to return to negotiations.

The invitation comes after new sanctions recently imposed by the West over Tehran's enrichment of uranium, a process that produces fuel for reactors but which can also be used in making nuclear weapons. The last round of negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany was held in January in Istanbul, Turkey, but it ended in failure. "We formally declared to them (the intent) to return to the path of dialogue for cooperation," Jalili told Iranian diplomats in Tehran. (More Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stories.)