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Iran Still Considering Nuclear Offer, VP Says
Iranian Vice President Rahim Mashaee said yesterday that Tehran is still considering an incentives package aimed at curbing its nuclear program, but lashed out at the Western powers that helped prepare the offer, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 2). The West is “using pressure, not dialogue, to try to deny Iran its rights,” Mashaee said during a trip to Japan, according to Kyodo News (Associated Press/ABC News, August 2). Mashaee also said that the U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Iran halt uranium enrichment by Aug. 31 is undermining his country’s belief in the international community, Agence France-Press reported. The foreign ministers of Japan and Australia while meeting yesterday in Tokyo called for a quick response by Tehran to the nuclear offer. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said he delivered the same message Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a forum last week in Malaysia. “We told Iran it should not think that the international community would wait patiently for its response forever. Iran needs to make a swift response,” Aso said. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, too, suggested that Iran not ignore the incentives package. “Iran needs to provide a positive response quickly based on the U.N. Security Council resolution. This issue requires close cooperation,” Downer said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, August 2) Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said he has “little cause for optimism” in the nuclear standoff, AFP reported. “Iran’s official announcements on the U.N. resolution are clear negative,” he was quoted as saying in a German newspaper. He added that Western diplomats ought to seek various contacts in Iran because “radical and reform-minded politicians are having a heated debate behind closed doors” on the issue (Agence France-Presse II/Iran Mania, August 2) Analysts predict Iran could gain strength in its face-off with the United Nations as the United States backs Israel’s effort in Lebanon to crush Hezbollah, AFP reported. “I think if the mullahs were not opposed to drinking alcohol they would be popping the champagne corks in Tehran these days,” said Ted Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. “Indirectly, the Iranian government has gained confidence that it can survive any pressure from the U.S. and the rest of the international community,” Carpenter said. “That it might even be able to withstand a military assault by the United States and still end up winning in the long run.” The conflict should not affect U.N. efforts regarding Iran’s nuclear program, but could damage the West’s authority in handling the crisis, said Vali Nasr, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of “The Shiite Revival.” “One of the points of Iran in Lebanon was to make sure that the West understands that it needs Iran and that it cannot isolate Iran out of the region,” he said. “The lesson of Lebanon is that when you bomb somebody you actually make him more popular,” Nasr said. “That could tell you that if you did the same in Iran, you’re actually going to strengthen the Iranian regime and there is no guarantee that it will fall either” (Jocelyne Zablit, Agence France-Presse III/Jordan Times, August 3).
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