WarSclerotic

“We are looking for a mechanism for a solution for the nuclear issue in a way that it is win-win for both sides,” he said.

“We understand the other side’s position and we want them to have conditions to save face. We are going into the talks with a positive outlook and we hope they will come to the negotiations with goodwill.”

Iran has sent a letter replying to an EU offer made in October to resurrect talks that collapsed in Istanbul in January 2011.

The European Union and the United States greeted the Iranian reply with cautious optimism. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who made the October offer, called it “an important step” amid high international tensions over Iran.

Once a time and place are agreed, the negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group — the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany — are expected to concentrate on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The United Nations and the West have imposed a raft of sanctions on Iran in an unsuccessful effort to force it to halt its atomic activities.

The Western measures have badly impacted Iran’s economy, but Tehran has responded by ramping up its uranium enrichment.

Salehi railed at what he saw as a “colonialist mindset” by the Western members of the P5+1, all of whom suspect Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons despite Tehran’s repeated denials.

Britain in particular drew his ire, after Foreign Secretary William Hague’s warning last Friday that an Iran with nuclear weapons capability could trigger “a disaster in world affairs” by sparking a “new Cold War in the Middle East”.

Hague’s remarks were “propaganda” designed to spur media hype, Salehi said.

“They think they can create concern. But we will go ahead with dignity and we are not worried because we consider we are in the right. We are sure about our peaceful nuclear activities,” he said.

“Nonetheless we are ready for the worst-case scenario,” he said, responding to threats from the United States and Israel of possible military action targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Meanwhile Israel said later on Saturday that it will ultimately decree on an Iranian strike on its own, as a senior U.S. official arrived for talks on the Islamic Republic.

“Israel is the central guarantor of its own security; this is our role as army, the State of Israel should defend itself,” military chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told state-owned Channel One TV.

“We must follow the developments in Iran and its nuclear project, but in a very broad manner, taking into account what the world is doing, what Iran decided, what we will do or not do,” he said.

Tensions between Iran and Israel have been simmering with Iranian warships entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal in a show of “might”, a move Israel said it would closely monitor.

On Wednesday, Iran said it had installed another 3,000 centrifuges to increase its uranium enrichment abilities and was stepping up exploration and processing of uranium yellowcake.

And Israel blamed a recent wave of attacks targeting Israeli diplomats on agents of Tehran, allegations Iran denies.

U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon will on Sunday begin talks with Israeli officials on a range of issues including Iran, two weeks ahead of a Washington visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for White House talks with U.S. President Barak Obama on the same topic.

A recent article in the Washington Post said that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta thinks Israel may strike Iran’s nuclear installations in the coming months.

According to Gantz, whose interview was conducted prior to the Saturday developments, Iran was not only an “Israeli problem”, but also “a world and regional problem”.

On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on the world to tighten sanctions on Iran before the country enters a “zone of immunity” against a physical attack to stop its nuclear program.