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in what has been called a major policy shift after years of shutting talks with Iran,

the United States has made an offer Wednesday to come to the table.

Cato Vice President for Foreign Policy and Defense Studies, Ted, Galen Carpenter, is here to walk us through

the upcoming negotiations.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Vienna to speak with diplomats from Europe, China, and Russia.

What kind of strategy could we expect from this multilateral effort?

One hopes that the various powers come up with a strategy for inducing Iran to forego its ambitions to

acquire nuclear weapons. The problem is that the various countries have different strategies for accomplishing that.

Russia and China, for example, are adamantly opposed to even considering economic sanctions against Iran.

The United States, on the other hand, is not only pushing the possibility of sanctions,

but has emphasized that even the use of military force is an option that remains on the table.

Why are China and Russia, particularly China, reluctant to impose sanctions if the talks fail?

Russia and China both believe that sanctions would either not work or in fact be

counterproductive driving the Iranian regime into greater isolation making it

even more determined to acquire a nuclear arsenal.

Beyond that both countries have significant economic stakes in Iran.

Russia in fact has been actively involved in what is supposedly Iran's peaceful civilian nuclear program.

China has lined up Iran as a major supplier of energy, so both Moscow and Beijing want to have a constructive

cooperative relationship with Iran, not derive Iran into a corner where a

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