Nothing from guyville

21Jul08

It sounds like very little happened at the weekend P-5+1 Geneva conference with Iranian representatives, the first one attended by US representatives.  This may have been the result the US expected, in order to justify a further escalation against Iran.

Iran’s Press TV had little to say about the meeting, other than a bland statement that Iran expects to reach a mutual agreement in its new round of talks with world powers over its disputed uranium enrichment work.

“We believe negotiations in Geneva today will be positive and constructive,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki ahead of talks in Geneva between Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.The current talks focus on a package of incentives recently presented to Iran, which requires the country to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for political and economic benefits. The top Iranian diplomat added that the meeting could be followed with several others to put ‘the viewpoints of all sides’ on the table and reach a mutual ‘agreement’.

Mottaki did not elaborate on the kind of agreement he expects but expressed hope that the Geneva talks would pave the way for further negotiations.

 

However, according to Western press accounts Iran was give two weeks to respond to a the P5+1initiative aimed at resolving a growing crisis over its disputed nuclear program after the meeting on Saturday made little progress.  According to the Financial Times:

In order to find a way into negotiations, the big powers offered to suspend moves to obtain further sanctions at the United Nations in return for a commitment from Iran not to expand their uranium enrichment programme any further. This phase, known as “freeze-for-freeze”, would last for six weeks – after which proper negotiations would start, but only after Iran had suspended all enrichment activity.

The Iranians responded on Saturday by presenting a two-page document that diplomats said did not directly address the proposals.  Instead, the document requested three further meetings with Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief who chaired the talks, before going to the next stage of talks. It also proposed general co-operation on a variety of fronts including energy, drugs and stability in the Middle East, but addressed neither the freeze-for-freeze suggestion nor the question of whether Iran would suspend uranium enrichment, diplomats said.

A senior European diplomat said “there was no basic correspondence with the ideas” put forward by the big powers. “I don’t think the Iranians calibrated rightly the meaning of having direct American involvement, the work behind the proposal or the expectations that the Iranians themselves had created,” the diplomat said.

Mr Solana said Mr Jalili had given no clear answer to the initiative aimed at breaking the deadlock. “We did not get a Yes or a No,” he said.  He said Iran would be allowed a further two weeks to respond and then officials said action would restart on fashioning further UN and EU sanctions.

Here’s the New York Times:

International talks on Iran’s nuclear ambitions ended in deadlock on Saturday, despite the Bush administration’s decision to reverse policy and send a senior American official to the table for the first time.

The presence of William J. Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, was one of the most important encounters between Iran and the United States since relations were severed nearly three decades ago. And it was part of a rare show of unity among the six negotiating partners — the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China — who pressed Iran to accept compromise.

But Iran responded with a written document that failed to address the main issue: international demands that it stop enriching uranium. And Iranian diplomats reiterated before the talks that they considered the issue nonnegotiable.

Specifically, the world powers wanted Iran to accept a formula known as “freeze-for-freeze” to break the deadlock. Under the formula, Iran would not add to its nuclear program, and the United States and other powers would not seek new international sanctions for six weeks to pave the way for formal negotiations. The proposal was originally offered to Iran last year and presented again to it last month as part of a new proposal to ultimately give Iran economic and political incentives if it stops producing enriched uranium.  But officials involved in Saturday’s negotiations said that when they repeatedly pressed the Iranians to say whether they could accept the idea, the question was evaded every time.

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed nuclear negotiations in Geneva claiming that the dialogues made progress, according to ISNA. 

Every negotiation that takes place is a step forward, so is the nuclear talks on Saturday, Ahmadinejad said.   He added “we don’t expect our enemies anything but threat, enemies always exist and fortunately we get stronger day by day and we move forward.”

FARS News Agency reiterated that Iran dismissed the possibility for freezing the country’s uranium enrichment activities, reiterating that enrichment is Tehran’s indispensible right.

Any kind of suspension or freeze is out of the question,” an Iranian official said, rejecting the main condition set by the US and other major powers for formal negotiations to end the long-running dispute.  The participation of US envoy William Burns in the one-day meeting in Geneva, together with Iranian comments playing down the likelihood of a US or Israeli attack, had raised hopes of progress and helped ease record oil prices.”It is not in Iran’s agenda to discuss this issue. As our supreme leader (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) clearly said, our path is very clear: we are not going to abandon our rights,” Iran’s ambassador to Switzerland Keyvan Imani told reporters gathered in the courtyard of Geneva’s ornate City Hall, the venue of the negotiations.  Last week, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran was ready to negotiate, but described enrichment as a red line not to be crossed by the Islamic republic.

Asked if the issue of opening a US interests section in Tehran was raised during the talks, Imani said Tehran had not yet received a proposal from the US on opening a representation but would “study it positively” if it did.  But Imani downplayed the presence of Burns – although the Americans had previously said they would not sit with the Iranians on nuclear issues unless Tehran was ready to stop all enrichment activity.

“He (is just) a member of the delegation” of the six countries engaging Iran on the nuclear issue, he said.  Imani also denied that the “freeze-for-freeze” formula – a stop to Iranian enrichment growth in exchange for no new UN sanctions – was formally on the agenda of the Geneva talks, saying the two sides were meeting

 

So now we have a two week “deadline” with uncertainty afterwards.

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