The United States, in a policy shift, is ready to join direct talks on Iran’s nuclear programme if Tehran suspends all uranium-enrichment activities, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday. These would be the first substantive talks with Iran since diplomatic relations were broken off 26 years ago.

As United States President George Bush appealed on Sunday for patience with his Iraq policies, analysts agreed the coming months were crucial to his hopes of getting out of an increasingly unpopular war. In a prime-time television speech, Bush went to extraordinary lengths to win backing for his efforts to quell an insurgency still raging 33 months after the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Americans mark the fourth anniversary of the September 11 2001 terror attacks on Sunday nagged by new burning questions about their readiness to confront a major disaster after the debacle of Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, the reconstruction of Ground Zero where the World Trade Centre once stood has become a byword for discord and disorder.

While basking in the apparent success of Iraq’s national elections, the United States still faces some tough hurdles in fashioning an exit strategy from the country it invaded nearly two years ago. US President George Bush has made it clear Iraq has a long and bloody road ahead of it.