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Western officials, repeatedly burned by Iran's pattern of accepting talks over its nuclear program only to buy time for further progress in uranium enrichment,聽are insisting upon guarantees that Iran is serious this time around.

That's why Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that Iran's acceptance of the latest invitation for talks 鈥� while offering signs of seriousness 鈥� will have to be studied further.聽

Iran has not yet offered any promise to meet the preconditions that the West is demanding before talks begin. While Secretary Clinton did not list those conditions, a senior European official said in January that they include聽suspension of uranium enrichment and access for international inspectors to verify this.

Joining Clinton at the State Department Friday, the European Union鈥檚 foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, offered only聽the most tentative of appraisals of Iran鈥檚 commitment.

鈥淭here is a potential possibility that Iran may be ready to start talks,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l continue to discuss and make sure that what we are looking at is substantive.鈥�

Iran's letter of acceptance, sent Wednesday, came in response to a letter of invitation to talks that Lady Ashton sent to Iran in October. In recent weeks, Iranian officials had hinted that Iran would accept a return to talks with a group of world powers. But they said Iran was ready to resume negotiations 鈥渨ithout preconditions.鈥�

Clinton on Friday said the US and other powers would require guarantees that Iran is prepared to meet its 鈥渋nternational obligations鈥� to limit its nuclear development to civilian purposes.

鈥淲e must be assured,鈥� Clinton said, 鈥渢hat if we make a decision to go forward, we see a sustained effort by Iran to come to the table, to work until we have reached an outcome that has Iran coming back into compliance with their international obligations.鈥�

Talks with Iran last sputtered out in January 2011 and haven鈥檛 involved any serious initiatives for addressing concerns about Iran鈥檚 nuclear program since October 2009. The talks聽involve Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the US, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France) plus Germany.

In his letter to the EU, Iran鈥檚 chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, spoke of his country鈥檚 鈥渞eadiness for dialogue on a spectrum of various issues, which can provide ground for constructive and forward looking cooperation.鈥� He alluded to the 鈥淚slamic Republic of Iran鈥檚 new initiatives in this round of talks,鈥� without specifying what those 鈥渘ew initiatives鈥� are.

French Foreign Minister Alain Jupp茅 called the letter 鈥渁mbiguous鈥� and said the test of Iran鈥檚 seriousness about the talks would come next week when inspectors from the UN鈥檚 nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are in Tehran.

鈥淚f Iran is really ready to discuss and show its sites and documents, then the conditions will be there to restart negotiations,鈥� Mr. Jupp茅 said.

The IAEA has been trying for years to gain full access to Iran鈥檚 nuclear facilities and documents. The IAEA says it has mounting evidence that Iran is not limiting its nuclear development to peaceful purposes, as Tehran claims, but is advancing parallel research and development in military applications.

Western countries are anxious about Iran鈥檚 advancing enrichment capabilities, and in particular about its growing stockpile of enriched uranium which, if it were to be enriched to higher purity, could be used to fuel a nuclear weapon.

But the West also feels that its increasingly draconian economic sanctions are beginning to bite the Iranian economy. It is this sense that sanctions are working that is allowing Western officials to play 鈥渃autious鈥� about Iran鈥檚 offer to talk 鈥� until they get what they want.