supreme national security council who also serves as the chief nuclear negotiator sent a letter to catherine ashton. the her says iran is willing to resume talks in a manner that's best for both sides. it suggests that success will depending on whether the west adopts a constructive attitude. ashton says she's evaluating the contents of the letter and will consult with the united states, russia and other partners. the eu coordinator says they will not resume talks unless iran is prepared to discuss concrete confidence-building measures without preconditions. last month eu announced plans to ban iranian oil imports in its toughest economic sanctions to date. >> japan's prescribe has urged israel to avoid using military force to stop iran's nuclear development. >> he wants cooperation including strengthening economic sanctions. >> and would be extremely dangerous. noda called on israel to seek a diplomatic and peaceful resolution. >> in other news, investigators in bangkock are hunting for clues following explosions that wounded five people. the assailant, the unite and israel have suggested the blas

secretary of the supreme national security council sent a letter to eu foreign policy chief catherine ashton. the letter says iran is willing to resume talks in a manner best for both sides. success will depend on whether the west adopts a constructive attitude. she says she's evaluating the contents of the letter and will consult with the united states, russia, and other partners. the eu coordinator says they will not resume talks unless iran is prepared to discuss concrete confidence-building measures without preconditions. last month eu announced plans to ban iranian oil imports in its toughest economic sanctions to date. japan's prime minister they met with israel's deputy minister. he told noda he wants international partners to cooperate and take tough measures against iran, including strengthening economic sanctions. noda said japan shares the concerns and is willing to cooperate through talks to put more pressure on iran, but he warned military action would only escalate the situation. noda wants a diplomatic and peaceful solution. >>> investors worry there might not be enough oil fr

breakthrough, i do not see them expressing any confidence, with the eu external affairs commissioner catherine ashton, regarded by the administration officials as probably an attempt to buy time. more like statements and actions, strong statements and actions by tehran. >> beefing up the security. is this saber rattling? >> at a time when media reports, i am sure iran's own intelligence gathering indicates that israel is serious in its contemplation of a possible attack, not to say they have made a decision, because i do not think they have, but taking steps to beef up their defenses, that is not surprising. a very important meeting has been taking place over the past 24 hours between the u.s. securities advisors and top israeli officials. we do not know what they're talking about, but we do know the u.s. has said openly and privately any way we can that we do not think it would be wise to attack iran now. >> but does the u.s. still have any influence over israel? >> we will see. when the u.s. officials have made the statement, then stand aside. israel will make decisions about its own security as it

recently, iran's government sent a letter to catherine ashton, the coordinator for talks between iran and six other nations, indicating it's ready to start again. ashton met with secretary of state hillary clinton today. afterwards, clinton said the letter appeared to acknowledge that the talks must begin with a discussion of iran's nuclear program. >> the international community has been looking to iran to demonstrate it is prepared to come to the table in a serious and constructive way. this response from the iranian government is one we've been waiting for, and if we do proceed, it will have to be a sustained effort that can produce results. >> suarez: secretary clinton said the major powers are still reviewing a formal response to the iranian letter. swift has agreed to stop handling iranian bank transfers. it's seen as an important setback to iran doing business with the rest of the world. for more, we get two views: ray takeyh was a state department official in the obama administration focusing on iran. he's now a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations. and flynt leve

in a gesture of solidarity, lady said we're all going to withdraw our ambassadors -- lady catherine ashtonaid we're all going to withdraw our ambassadors. >> the strategy against belarus does not seem to be yielding results. >> like i said, more than 200 people are facing sanctions from the eu. but just how effective they are, nobody knows. the eu is working on another level, which is they are trying to support the opposition from the european union. they have an extensive network of support programs could universities offer for young students, and they have to change the bill region society in the long run. >> thank you for that from brussels. >> egyptian police say they have arrested one of the most senior members of al qaeda. but the man detained says it is case of mistaken identity. saif al-adel is on the fbi's most wanted list, and there's a $5 million reward for his capture. a man traveling under a different name was detained in cairo airport on arrival from pakistan. >> the u.s. is working on a new draft u.n. security council resolution to release -- relieve the suffering in syria b

it was received tuesday in response from a letter from lady catherine ashton, the european union's foreign policy chief and point person for negotiations between the major world powers and iran. secretary clinton met with lady ashton at the state department today. >> this response from the iranian government is one we've been waiting for. if we do proceed, it will have to be a sustained effort that can produce results. >> reporter: secretary clinton said the iranian letter seemed to embrace a basic pre-condition for any future talks with the rogue nation which boasted this week about advances in its nuclear program. >> any conversation with iran have begin with the discussion of its nuclear program and iran's response to kathy's letter does appear to acknowledge and accept that. >> reporter: scott, u.s. officials believe iran wants to reopen talks because those tough sanctions have choked off the iranian economy and today the obama administration praised a new effort by swift, that belgian base financial clearing house, to blacklist the iranian banks. this is an effort pushed by the white

accomplishments accomplishments they made today but at the same time they also delivered a letter to the catherine ashton calling for responding for a call for a new talks on the nuclear program so it seems that iran is simply posturing they're trying to steal the world that look we're not going to bend to the west's will we've managed to have some serious accomplishments in our nuclear program but at the same time you know we're willing to talk and it's we're they're trying to say that they're coming from a position of strength even though they've come under the most serious sanctions that we've ever seen i mean do you think the people are going a little bit overboard with the nuclear talk when it comes to iran especially when we talk about the idea of iran having a nuclear weapon of hiding. you know they're higher enough high enough excuse me and rich uranium you know i think so i think there's a certainly a lot of her probably going on i think the iranians are engaged in a lot of hyperbole a lot of things that we've seen today are not very serious nuclear complements they don't seriously advance iran'