An unprecedented opportunity may be underway as the United States reluctantly seeks to join negotiating partners Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in an urgent test-the-waters meeting with Iran over the proposal.

Jacqueline Shire, an analyst at the Institute for Science and International Security, said Iran clearly demonstrates it is "not ignoring" the six powers by responding to their offer for talks with a proposal on Wednesday.

"There's only one place to go, and that is dialogue, diplomacy," said Shire, an expert in the global threat from weapons of mass destruction.

"I'm not sure how optimistic I am. I would not be surprised if in two months' time we are talking about another round of sanctions," Shire told AFP, noting there may be common ground on concerns over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, drugs and terrorism.

"But we have to begin somewhere."

In its proposal, Tehran said it was prepared to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive negotiations," according to what a US non-profit investigative journalism group said was a copy of the five-page package.

The talks would address nuclear disarmament as well as a global framework for the use of "clean nuclear energy," according to the document published on Pro Publica's website.

But it did not address Iran's own nuclear program, which Western powers and Israel claim is a cover to build an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran denies, claiming it is a civilian nuclear energy program for civilian purposes.

State Department officials say there is nothing new in the proposal and it "does not really respond" to its greatest concern, the uranium enrichment program which it fears masks a plan to build a bomb.

Fariborz Ghadar, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the proposal is similar to the position Tehran has held all year, but "the tone of this one was somewhat more optimistic."

To be sure, the Iranians did not promise to stop uranium enrichment, Ghadar cautioned. "What they did say, is they want a comprehensive program (of talks). That is an opening where we can start the negotiations," he added.

Ghadar also found "a ray of openness" in Iran's leadership producing the offer amid the "turmoil" over the June presidential election results, Iran's biggest domestic crisis since the 1979 revolution.

National Iranian American Council president Trita Parsi welcomed the proposal.

"While the Iranian response cannot be characterized as a resounding yes, neither is it a categorical rejection of negotiations," Parsi wrote in The Huffington Post, an online newspaper.

The offer should not be seen through the West's focus on nuclear issues, but through Iran's "long-standing objective to be recognized as a regional power with a permanent seat at the table of regional decision-making," he said.

"Iran believes that the nuclear stand-off provides it with an opportunity to achieve this objective."

Iran sees itself as having a legitimate role in shaping the future of the region, such as in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. It has also called for Israel to scrap its suspected stockpile of nuclear weapons.

"Iran's uncompromising stance and its cursory references to nuclear matters are most likely an opening bid, and not a red line," Parsi argued.

Parsi said the United States and Europe could turn to its advantage Iran's push for a broader agenda by welcoming its calls for UN reform but adding the question of human rights in Iran.

Other analysts were more pessimistic.

"This proposal does not give any evidence to suggest that Iran is willing or prepared to meet half-way on the nuclear issue, or interested in trying to reach a modus vivendi with the US on other points of contention," said Karim Sadjadpour, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The fact that they send a proposal laden with themes of democracy and justice -- while show trials and prison rapes are taking place back home -- underscores how delusional and incorrigible the Ahmadinejad government is."

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