World Powers Offer to Resume Iran Nuclear Talks

 　　Six world powers have offered to resume long-stalled talks with Iran to address Western suspicions of a military dimension to the Iranian nuclear program.

　　EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says she made the offer to resume talks in a letter sent to Iranian nuclear envoy¹ Saeed Jalili on Tuesday. Ashton has been leading negotiations² with Iran as a representative of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - as well as Germany.

　　In her letter, Ashton says the goal of the six powers remains³ a "negotiated, long-term solution which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."

　　Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian⁴ energy program, a charge Tehran denies. Israel sees a nuclear-armed as Iran threat to its existence and refuses to rule out military action to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon capability⁵.

　　Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held separate meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and congressional leaders in Washington on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to Iran's nuclear activities.  There was no immediate⁶ word on the outcome of the Clinton-Netanyahu meeting.

　　After meeting Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress, Netanyahu praised them for what he called their "clarity, courage and wisdom." Congress has long showed strong bipartisan support for Israel's security concerns.

　　In a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee late Monday, Netanyahu said Israel cannot afford to wait much longer for diplomacy⁷ and sanctions to pressure Iran. Iranian state news agency IRNA says Deputy Foreign Minister Hoseyn Abdollahian rejected the Israeli leader's remarks as "bellows⁸ of fear."

　　In a White House meeting earlier Monday, President Barack Obama urged Netanyahu to give diplomacy and sanctions more time to curb⁹ Iran's nuclear ambitions. Obama also reiterated¹⁰ his position that all options are on the table to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

　　Obama administration and Israeli officials have expressed differing views about what might trigger military action against Iran's nuclear sites. U.S. officials have said Washington may act if Iran makes a decision to assemble a nuclear bomb, while Israeli officials have said military action may be needed sooner, to prevent Iran from putting the pieces of a bomb beyond the reach of an attack.

　　The EU's Ashton says the six powers and Iran must agree on a time and venue¹¹ for the nuclear talks, which have been stalled since January 2011. Iranian envoy Jalili had sent a letter to Ashton last month, pledging Iran's readiness to restart talks on the nuclear issue.

　　VOA's U.N. correspondent says a diplomat¹² told her last week that a new round of talks is unlikely to be scheduled until April at the earliest.

　　Iran's government said Tuesday it is willing to provide U.N. nuclear experts with conditional¹³ access to a military complex they suspect of being used for research towards developing nuclear weapons. A U.N. watchdog delegation¹⁴ had requested access to the Parchin site during visits to Iran in January and February, but Iran refused.

　　Iran's delegation to the Vienna-based IAEA says granting access to Parchin is a "time-consuming process and cannot be permitted repeatedly" due to the site's military status. It says Iran will grant such access when it resolves unspecified issues with the U.N. agency.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

6 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

7 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

8 bellows   

n.风箱；发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的名词复数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的第三人称单数 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫

参考例句：

• His job is to blow the bellows for the blacksmith. 他的工作是给铁匠拉风箱。 来自辞典例句
• You could, I suppose, compare me to a blacksmith's bellows. 我想，你可能把我比作铁匠的风箱。 来自辞典例句

9 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

10 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

11 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

12 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

13 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

14 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。