Sunday, May 27, 2012

Infighting at the Iran Nuclear Talks

"...The diplomat declined to identify which nations in the P5+1 — the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China — pushed for taking a harder line. But he did say that lead international negotiator, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, was ultimately able to find a compromise in working out the text of the final document that every member of the group unanimously endorsed. The statement said while significant gaps remain between Iran and the P5+1, there was enough common ground to move to another meeting to try to advance areas of agreement. ...“They are always pushing maximal positions,” the senior European diplomat said. “They are always a bit unpredictable. Iran is a very isolated country and this is what happens to isolated countries. They are very proud of their history and feel like they are often on the losing side. There is a lot of mistrust on both sides.”
“Our objective is for Iran to become in full compliance with all the resolutions of the UN Security Council and IAEA,” the diplomat said. “The idea is to get there. This is why we propose as a first-step package that addresses our major concerns about 20% [enrichment]. This is to help them rebuild confidence: they do something, we do something.”The Iranian negotiating team “agree that this [Iran's 20-percent enrichment] is an issue for discussion,” a second, senior European diplomat told Al-Monitor in an interview Friday. “The question is what they would get for it. Also, they link it with other proposals, like upfront recognition of their right to enrich.”"

No comments: