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Security Council Continues Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program
Top diplomats from six key nations are scheduled to meet today to discuss how the U.N. Security Council will address Iran’s controversial nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 17). U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said today’s meeting “will basically consider the longer range issues, although obviously in the capitals in Moscow and Beijing, certainly, they will now have a look” at the latest draft statement. Bolton said he hoped agreement on a statement could be reached at tomorrow afternoon’s full-council session (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/CNN.com, March 20). Russian U.N. Ambassador Andrei Denisov said his country opposes a portion of the draft text mandating that agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei deliver a report on Iran’s compliance in two weeks. “Let’s just imagine that we adopt it and today we issued that statement — then what happens after two weeks?” Denisov said on Friday. “[At] such a pace, we’ll start bombing in June” (Nick Wadhams, Associated Press/Moscow Times, March 18). China has raised similar concerns, Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday. “We must leave sufficient time for diplomacy and for the IAEA to work ... at least four weeks to six weeks,” said Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 18). Bolton, meanwhile, expressed frustration with those positions. “If I were as near to Iran as Russia is, I’d certainly want to get this resolved quickly,” he said. “I think in the Russian nuclear establishment, I think they know exactly what Iran is doing” (Wadhams, Associated Press, March 18). “I don’t think there’s really been much support to go beyond a month” for a deadline, he added (Agence France-Presse, March 18). Meanwhile, pending talks between Iran and the United States over Iraq could yield some movement on the nuclear issue, the Washington Post reported today. “Although the talks will be over Iraq, these talks would have certain impacts on other regional developments and also on nuclear diplomacy,” said Reza Talainik, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign affairs committee. While no meeting date has been set, Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani’s announcement of the decision on Thursday was pointedly public. Analysts said this indicated that Iran’s ultimate clerical authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supported the move. Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent reformist theoretician, expressed optimism about the talks. “No time has been more convenient for talks between the two countries. We are less sensitive than at any time since the [1979 Islamic] revolution,” said Tajzadeh. “The public image the U.S. has made of Iran is a monster,” he added. “They have to do something, at least break a horn” (Karl Vick, Washington Post, March 20).
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