Iran-US-Nuclear Talks
The Bush administration has decided to break with previous policy by sending one of its most senior diplomats to engage Iran's top nuclear official, the White House announced Wednesday.

Undersecretary of State William Burns will head to Switzerland for talks on Saturday.

The move could dramatically alter the three-decade stand-off between the U.S. and Iran.

Undersecretary of State William Burns will accompany a European Union delegation during a meeting with Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear official, in Switzerland on Saturday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

The delegation meeting with the Iranians will be led by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

The delegates will discuss an incentives program meant to encourage the Islamic republic to drop its nuclear enrichment program, Perino said.

The US decision to attend the talks is not "linked in any way" to Iran's missile tests last week, a senior administration official told CNN.

The official said the meeting "had been pending before" the tests occurred.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Wednesday that the president and his national security team decided only recently to send Burns to the meeting.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "believes it's a smart step to take. There is no change in the substance but it sends a strong signal," McCormack said.

"It sends a strong signal to our P5+1 partners. It sends a strong signal to the world. It sends a strong signal to the Iranian government that the United States is committed to diplomacy, to finding a diplomatic solution to this issue."

McCormack said Burns will be under strict orders to listen to what Iran has to say but not engage in one-on-one discussions with the Iranian negotiator.

Burns will also hammer home the point that any direct talks between the United States and Iran will occur only after Iran suspends its enrichment program, McCormick said.

Should they take that single step, the United States and its partners in the P5+1 will meet with the Iranian delegation any time, any place, anywhere to talk about a variety of subjects, but certainly our focus will be on the Iranian nuclear program," McCormack said.

McCormack brushed aside criticism that the United States is giving up too much to Iran.

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