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Iran Agrees to Extend Nuclear Suspension While Awaiting New EU Proposal
Iran yesterday agreed to continue its suspension of sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for the promise of a detailed proposal of incentives from the European Union by early August, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, May 25). “From here on it will take us some weeks to make concrete proposals, particularly with the goal of putting in place a civilian [nuclear] program in Iran — exclusively civil — but other issues as well,” said French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier. The meeting yesterday in Geneva was the first in which the European side committed to formulating a concrete plan to assist Tehran in obtaining nuclear reactors, said top Iranian negotiator Hassan Rohani. “The EU has offered to give Iran a detailed proposal. ... We believe we could reach a final agreement within a reasonably short time,” said Rohani (Reuters, May 25). “What they put forward made it hard for us to say no,” one Iranian negotiator told the Times. During the meeting, Rohani told European officials that if they expected a permanent freeze on uranium enrichment by Tehran, they were “going in the wrong direction,” according to one Iranian negotiator. Rohani asked more than once during the meeting for specific details of the European offer. In response, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer asked for patience, adding that Iran would lose nothing by waiting two months, according to the Times. Asked what “carrots,” or incentives, the EU side had offered to Iran, a European negotiator replied, “There were no carrots.” Iran “reaffirmed its commitment to not seeking nuclear weapons,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, adding that Iran’s right to a civilian nuclear program remained intact (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, May 25). “What [the Iranian commitment] does is ensure that Iran continues with its suspension of processing of nuclear materials,” said Straw when asked to summarize the agreement, Reuters reported. The outcome of the meeting was positive, said Joseph Cirincione, head of nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Iran has agreed to wait until after [its] presidential elections … for the EU proposal. And it has expressed a willingness to compromise,” said Cirincione. Washington reaffirmed support for the negotiations, but reiterated its suspicion of Tehran, according to Reuters. “Iran hid its nuclear activity from the international community for two decades. That is why we are skeptical about their activities,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan (Reuters, May 25). Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization today agreed to begin accession talks with Iran, Reuters reported. Iran applied to join the organization in 1996, and the body first considered its application in May 2001. Over the course of the following 22 General Council meetings, Washington consistently blocked Iran’s candidacy. A senior U.S. official told Reuters last night that Washington would drop its opposition as a sign of support for the EU negotiations. “We’re not going to block it, in support of the diplomacy of our European friends ... That is the plan,” the official said. “It was long overdue, I think it was positive,” Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said of the agreement. “It will open new doors to trade cooperation” (Richard Waddington, Reuters, May 26).
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