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Iran Tentatively Welcomes U.S. Role in Nuclear Talks
Iran yesterday tentatively welcomed news that the United States is considering joining the European Union in offering incentives to resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 28). “The Iranian government believes any step that can help the negotiations and bring results is a positive step,” said government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh. “We have already said the U.S. is not part of the talks. But if U.S. pressure on the European countries obliges the Europeans to coordinate with the U.S., we certainly welcome it,” he said, adding that Iran was not seeking “more or fewer incentives” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 28). European leaders last week reassured U.S. President George W. Bush that they shared the U.S. view of Iran’s nuclear weapons plans, and agreed that their negotiations were unlikely to succeed, a State Department official said yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported. The official paraphrased the message from the Europeans as: “The Iranians have not shown a lot of goodwill and there’s a good chance that this is likely to fail. The problem is … you are going to be blamed for the failure unless you make an effort that looks like you are supporting our effort.” European diplomats said yesterday they were satisfied that the Bush administration was carefully weighing their proposal to offer Iran incentives. “It’s positive signals, they come at the right moment, and it makes us optimistic,” said Nathalie Loiseaux, spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Washington. “But we know that it’s not going to be easy [dealing] with Iran” (Efron/Rubin, Los Angeles Times, March 1). German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said U.S. support for Europe’s diplomatic efforts has improved the chances of a negotiated settlement over the dispute, AP reported. “My impression is that the chances of a settlement have risen,” Schroeder said while traveling in Kuwait, adding that Washington is “clearly supporting the approach of negotiations” (Associated Press, March 1). U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that President George W. Bush is “looking at what he thinks might be necessary to support European diplomacy, but he hasn’t made any decisions.” While Washington has for two years pressed other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to send Iran’s case to the U.N. Security Council, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have indicated they would block such moves while negotiations continue, the Washington Post reported. “It is clear the Europeans have undertaken not to support a resolution against Iran unless things progress in a bad direction,” one U.S. official said. “So our position is based on trying to give the European initiative a chance to bear fruit or collapse.” Meanwhile, agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed a Post report that Iran had provided international investigators a copy of a 1987 offer from Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s nuclear network for technology and centrifuge components. “The offer was extensive, but [Iran] indicated that they did not, obviously, take these people up on the entirety of the offer,” said ElBaradei (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, March 1). Russia is urging Iran not to develop facilities to produce nuclear fuel, arguing that doing so would not be economical, the head of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. “In a country that has fewer than eight or 10 nuclear reactors ... developing an independent nuclear cycle is not only unfeasible, but wasteful,” said Alexander Rumyantsev. “This is what we are telling the Iranians and they are studying these materials with interest.” Rumyantsev said Russia would offer bids to build six additional nuclear reactors in Iran. He added, however, that Iran has the right to develop a complete fuel cycle. “As for the decisions they make ... because they are members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, nothing forbids them from developing their own cycle,” he said (Maria Danilova, Associated Press/AberdeenNews.com, Feb. 28). Tehran’s priority in negotiating with the European nations is to obtain “the recognition of Iran’s legitimate right to master nuclear technology, notably the production of fuel. .. for 20 [reactors] of 1,000 megawatts,” Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said today, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 1). The European Union said yesterday it did not object to Russia’s signing Sunday of a nuclear fuel agreement with Iran for the Bushehr nuclear reactor, AFP reported. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, said the agreement “no negative influence” on Europe’s attempt to end the standoff with Tehran (Agence France-Presse/Middle-East.World.Designerz.com, Feb. 28).
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