Clinton Says Any Nuclear Talks With Iran Will Be ‘Hard Nosed’

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. does not intend to offer concessions to get Iran to engage in negotiations over its nuclear activities, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The U.S. anticipates “a very hard-nosed negotiation” with Iran, she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.

“There’s not going to be any front-loading of concessions on our part,” she said.

‘We’re a long way from having any assurance as to what Iran would or would not do’’ in negotiations, she said.

Clinton said U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran has not made the decision to proceed with making a nuclear explosive device. Even so, Iran’s actions, including its failure to resolve questions raised by UN inspectors, raises “suspicions about a nuclear weapons program,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Indira A.R. Lakshmanan in Washington at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Terry Atlas at tatlas@bloomberg.net