In an effort to curb Iran's controversial nuclear program, the United States and other Western nations are to meet with Iran in talks set for Saturday in Istanbul. The talks will be held amid escalating concern Iran could soon produce a nuclear weapon.
It will be the first time in more than a year that representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany have met with Iranian nuclear negotiators.
The stakes are high, as the talks are widely seen as a last chance to defuse the increasingly tense international showdown over Tehran's nuclear program.
Iranian leaders say they are not seeking atomic weapons.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested ways Tehran can reassure the international community.
"And that government policy can be demonstrated in a number of ways, by ending the enrichment of highly enriched uranium to 20 percent, by shipping such highly enriched uranium out of the country, by opening up to constant inspections and verifications," said Clinton.
The United States and its Western allies reportedly will demand Iran close its Fordo uranium-enrichment facility, which was built under a mountain near the Muslim holy city of Qom.
Iran's central bank has been slapped with tough new sanctions and the European Union has agreed to embargo Iranian oil by July 1st. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country will not yield to outside pressure.
"They want to impose an embargo on our oil exports," said Ahmadinejad. "We have as much hard currency as we need and the country will manage well, even if we do not sell a single barrel of oil for two or three years and the enemies' dreams would never come true."
But analysts say Iran is under massive pressure, giving the United States unprecedented leverage as the talks get underway.
Michael Singh is the Managing Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy:
"I hope these talks will validate the strategy of trying to use pressure in conjunction with diplomacy to get the Iranians to really shift their course, to change their approach to this nuclear question," said Singh.
While analysts hope diplomacy will work, most are not optimistic the talks will be successful.
Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution:
"I think it is fairly clear that Iran has no particular interest in détente with the outside world," said O'Hanlon. "No interest in kowtowing or acknowledging that it has been squeezed into submission and it does want a nuclear-weapon capability at some level."
Top U.S. intelligence officials say Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons, but has not yet made the decision to build a bomb.
Analysts say if Tehran makes such a decision, it will be capable of producing a weapon later this year.
Some analysts have expressed concern that Iran will use the negotiations to buy time to improve its nuclear-weapons capabilities.
Secretary Clinton warns against such a strategy.
"I think the Iranians also have to know that this is not an open-ended discussion," she said. "This has to be a very serious action-oriented negotiation, where both sides are highly engaged on a sustainable basis to reach a decision that can be translated into policy that is verified as soon as possible."
Israel and the United States have not ruled out military action to keep Iran from producing a nuclear bomb.
Michael Singh of the Washington Institute:
"If the talks fail we may see an Israeli military action," he said. "I think that is a growing possibility. I think we will certainly see more pressure come from the United States, the EU and others."
Singh says the U.S. Congress and European countries are considering additional sanctions if the talks are not successful.
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