AMMAN -- A top U.N. atomic watchdog official has visited Iran Thursday to try to get answers on its nuclear activities, amid Western frustration and international division on how to deal with Tehran's failure to respond to a new set of incentives to freeze uranium enrichment.

U.S. undersecretary for political affairs, William Burns, attended a recent meeting in Geneva between EU Secretary General Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili. This decision was the first direct and official contact between the United States and Iran after nearly three decades of troubled relations. The decision to send Burns to the talks was a wise and courageous one, despite his nominal role as an observer.

AMMAN -- Iran is sending mixed signals to the international community while resisting pressure over its nuclear program, amid reports that Tehran had delivered a written reply to a Western ultimatum that offered a package of incentives if the Islamic republic would stop enriching uranium.

On his way back from the inconclusive Geneva talks between Tehran and the Iran Six over the disputed Iranian nuclear program, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili stopped in Ankara and held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babajan.

High-level international talks over Tehran's disputed nuclear program ended inconclusively on July 19. Those talks in Geneva focused on an updated package of incentives offered by the six world powers to Tehran in order to breathe life into the deadlocked talks. Iran now faces the following alternative: It must cooperate with advanced nuclear powers offering such cooperation; or it will inevitably face all-out political isolation.

Iran's insistence on enriching uranium in defiance of three U.N. Security Council resolutions, combined with a bevy of antagonistic threats aimed at Israel's existence has created an explosive recipe that may well precipitate a horrifying regional conflagration. For Iran's own best interests, its contentious leaders would be well advised to tone down their anti-Israeli threats, which have not been taken lightly thus far, and find a diplomatic solution to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

For almost his entire eight-year-long presidency George W. Bush said that the United States will not hold direct talks with Iran unless it discontinues uranium enrichment.