Envoys Report Progress in Iran Talks

[Dreamer128]

TEHRAN, Nov. 6 -- Two days of talks in Paris between Iranian and European delegations about Iran's nuclear program ended late Saturday without a formal agreement, but diplomats said progress had been made.

"After two days of very difficult discussions, we have made significant progress toward a provisional agreement," a senior Iranian envoy involved in the negotiations said on condition of anonymity in a telephone interview from Paris. "We all agree after these difficult talks on a common approach to the problem... An agreement is attainable."

A nearly identical statement from the French Foreign Ministry, issued after 20 hours of intense negotiations, also noted "considerable progress."

The European delegation -- with members from Britain, France and Germany -- and the Iranians will consult with officials in their capitals over the next few days and then provide formal responses. No further meetings are envisioned, the Iranian envoy said. European envoys stressed that Iran must answer by the time the International Atomic Energy Agency takes the issue up Nov. 25.

The Europeans are trying to persuade Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program indefinitely as a way to ensure that it does not use the technology to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran has insisted that the suspension be no longer than six months and on assurances that it would not be asked to permanently revoke its right to have a nuclear energy program, according to European envoys.

Iran has said its uranium enrichment facility is part of a peaceful nuclear fuel program. But the scale of its efforts, conducted in secret over 18 years, has left U.S., European and Israeli officials suspicious that Iran is ultimately seeking to produce a nuclear weapon.

The Europeans have offered Iran diplomatic and economic incentives to suspend nuclear work that could lead to producing a bomb. If no agreement is reached, the Europeans will join the United States in referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose economic sanctions.

Throughout the negotiations, the Europeans have faced pressure from the Bush administration, which has made clear its preference to take the issue to the Security Council.

China signaled Saturday that it opposed any U.S. effort to take Iran to the council, a potential blow to the Bush administration's goal of pressuring Iran.

The Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, on a two-day visit to Iran, said at a news conference in Tehran that he had informed Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that confronting Iran at the United Nations would complicate efforts to find a solution.

China, which last month signed a multibillion-dollar gas deal with Iran, instead wants the issue settled at a lower level by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Li said.

"I told all my colleagues that China supports a solution to this issue within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency," Li told reporters. Taking it to the Security Council "would only make the issue more complicated and difficult to work out," he said.

China, one of five members of the Security Council that wield veto power, holds a critical card in the looming debate about Iran's nuclear program. Iran and China have developed increasingly close ties, and China now receives about 17 percent of its oil from Iran and is rapidly becoming one of its largest trading partners.

(Washington Post)

[Jonas Strider]

sounds good to hear. hopefully avoiding any confrontations with bush and his little war trigger.

[shamrock_uk]

I can't help getting the feeling that the EU is being given the run-around here. This is the same country that said getting nuclear weapons was their first priority and necessary to ensure their survival against American aggression. The thought of Iran abandoning nuclear weapons I therefore find a little far-fetched....

Would it not be a better strategy to not ban the Iranians from a domestic nuclear programme but simply allow it on condition of unconditional access for inspectors?

One things for sure, if this all comes to a head, China's veto ensures that we'll have a similar UN situation to Iraq

[ 11-07-2004, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Dreamer128]

Update:

Iran and EU agree on nuclear programme

Iran and the European Union have reached a preliminary agreement on Iran's controversial nuclear programme. The leader of the Iranian delegation Hossein Mousavian announced the accord on Tehran state television.

The agreement was made after two days of talks in Paris between Iran, France, Great Britain and Germany. No further details have been released, but it appears that Iran is prepared to stop the enrichment of uranium in exchange for EU trade agreements and a guaranteed supply of nuclear energy.

The deal has to be approved by the four countries' governments before the final details can be negotiated. The United Nations has threatened sanctions if Iran did not end its nuclear programme.

(rnw.nl)

[Grojlach]

Well, at least it sounds good on paper. I wonder how much of this will work out in the end, though...

[Dreamer128]

Iran bows to EU pressure to freeze uranium programme

Ian Traynor
Monday November 15, 2004
The Guardian

Iran announced last night that it was freezing all operations connected with uranium enrichment in a diplomatic victory for the European Union and a move that should spare Tehran being sent to the UN security council.

In a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Iranian authorities said they would suspend all activities connected with uranium enrichment until a final and broader diplomatic agreement is reached with the EU.

The Iranian announcement followed 10 days of brinkmanship after marathon negotiations in Paris between Iran and the EU troika of Britain, France and Germany.

The decision was timed to influence a crucial IAEA board meeting in Vienna in 10 days' time. In return for the Iranian agreement, the Europeans are expected to resist US calls that Iran be referred to the security council for possible sanctions.

The agreement gives the Europeans and the Iranians more time to reach a grander bargain. But the Bush administration, in particular, remains intensely suspicious of the agreement.

The White House reacted cautiously to Iran's announcement, saying: "We look forward to a briefing by our European friends."

Since the tentative agreement in Paris, Tehran has balked at the EU's insistence on "indefinite" suspension of uranium enrichment, while the Europeans demanded an indefinite freeze until a long-term agreement was reached.

The Iranians yielded on this point and on the contentious issue of what uranium enrichment means. The Iranian enrichment programme can deliver the fissile material needed for nuclear warheads. The Iranians wanted to continue some operations connected with enrichment, but last night they appeared to have backed down.

The Iranian nuclear issue was threatening to come to a head at the Vienna meeting, with the Iranians facing censure.

If the Iranians had not frozen their uranium enrichment activities by November 25, the EU troika would have backed Washington in seeking to take the crisis to the security council in New York, a move that could have entailed sanctions.

A similar agreement was reached a year ago in Tehran between the EU three and Iran. It was hailed as proof that the EU could display diplomatic muscle, but the deal quickly unravelled.

As a result of last night's agreement, the EU and Iran are scheduled to start negotiations next month on a broader pact trading EU economic and technological support to Iran if Tehran closes down its uranium enrichment facilities entirely.

Observers in Vienna, however, expect a strengthened and impatient Bush administration to get tougher on Iran and be less happy with European attempts to finesse a settlement to avoid a full-blown crisis.

[Timber Loftis]

The EU way won!!! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

Whodda thunk it? I can hear the Iranian deledgation now: "Okay, okay, we'll do anything -- ANYTHING -- if you'll... just... shut... up." [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Actually, this could bode ill. Iran says it's going to do whatever it wants, and before referring this to the security counsel and making it a *real* issue, the EU goes into a whirlwind 10 days of negotiations, and gets Iran to *voluntarily* step down its plans in return for the EU's promise to oppose the US on the UN floor. Extortion most devious indeed. Personally, I'd rather see them under a security counsel order.

So, while the EU is busy patting itself on the back for a stunning diplomatic victory, Iran is laughing its ass off into its hukkah. Whose diplomatic victory was this?

[Azred]

Most assuredly this is a victory for the Iranians and the Chinese, because they are the only ones who truly win in this situation. The Iranians get 1) the power of China to back them during international talks, 2) the freedom to continue enrichment programs in secret, 3) possible technological assistance or hints from China, and 4) "one-upping" the West. China gets 1) oil for energy, 2) "one-upping" the West, and 3) a chance to test the international waters for resistance to what China wants (with an eye on Taiwan in the future).

I would like a show of hands of those who think the Iranians will completely abandon their enrichment programs. [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img] I don't see too many hands.

Don't get me wrong--I am glad that someone is trying to curb Iran's uranium enrichment dreams diplomatically. I just don't think that these talks will accomplish much.

[Dreamer128]

Ah.. ye old cynics. What makes you think the evil muslim fundamentalists won't be true to their word? If the IEAE had concluded that Iran has not kept up their end of the bargain, Europe would have taken the matter to the UN anyway. And now that they have, there is no reason for the security council to get involved. Besides, what were the alternatives to a diplomatic solution? More sanctions?


Iran Suspends Uranium Enrichment

TEHRAN - Iran has suspended uranium enrichment and all related activities, state-run radio reported Monday, honoring an agreement with Europe designed to head off possible U.N. sanctions.

"To build confidence and in line with implementing the Paris Agreement, Iran suspended uranium enrichment (and related activities) as of today," said the brief radio announcement.

In Vienna, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said the suspension appeared confirmed.

"I think pretty much everything has come to a halt," Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters.

ElBaradei said he expected to have a definitive ruling by Thursday on whether Iran has honored its pledge -- made earlier this month -- to freeze activities that can be used in energy programs -- but also to make nuclear weapons.

The United States accuses Iran of secretly pursuing nuclear weapons and has pushed the international community to take a hard line. Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week that Washington has intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons.

While not prohibited from enrichment under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran has been under intense pressure to agree to at least a freeze -- if not to scrap its program -- as a way of reducing international suspicions.

Iran, which insists its program is peaceful, has said the suspension will be brief, voluntary, and contingent on what Europe does next. Iranian hard-liners have accused the government of sacrificing Iran's rights by agreeing to suspend enrichment.

Under the agreement, reached through negotiations held in Paris with Britain, France and Germany, a working committee would be formed within weeks to define what economic, technological, security and nuclear cooperation Europe will provide. It will report within three months.

Iran portrays the agreement as European support for what it sees as its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program.

Iran radio said Monday the suspension included reprocessing uranium and building centrifuges used to enrich uranium.

In Belgium on Monday, EU foreign ministers urged Iran to confirm its suspension at an IAEA board meeting in Vienna on Thursday. The board was to focus on closing an examination of nearly two decades of covert nuclear activities in Iran.

"We reached an agreement two and a half weeks ago," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. "What we are looking forward to is a translation of that text into an agreement. I hope very much Iran to come fully into compliance."

Straw said that if Iran reneges on the deal the EU "reserves the right" to take Iran to the United Nations.

Only after Thursday's IAEA meeting is the EU expected to move to resume negotiations for a trade and political cooperation agreement, officials said. Such a deal would likely include help to develop a peaceful nuclear energy program.

(Washintongpost)

[ 11-22-2004, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

[shamrock_uk]

Originally posted by Dreamer128: Ah.. ye old cynics. What makes you think the evil muslim fundamentalists won't be true to their word?

A few choice quotes from our Iranian friends:

Countries in the Middle-East claim that Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons gives them the right to own them, but for Islamic countries that behave in an often ‘maverick’ fashion to own nuclear weapons is a true nightmare for western governments. What is interesting, is that these efforts to develop nuclear weapons occurs along clear cultural lines, with Islamic regimes seeing it as their duty to collectively develop a counter to American and Israeli influence. In 1988 President Rafsanjani declared that Iranians “must fully equip ourselves both in the offensive and defensive use of chemical, bacteriological and radiological (ie nuclear) weapons.” In 1991, the Iranian vice-president told an Islamic conference “since Israel continues to possess nuclear weapons, we, the Muslims, must cooperate to produce an atom bomb, regardless of UN attempts to prevent proliferation” [emphasis added].

I'm not convinced that something that is believed so fervently by so many, and even seen as necessary for the credibility of certain regimes can be so easily abandoned...

[ 11-22-2004, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]