ID :
154361
Wed, 12/22/2010 - 14:05
Auther :

Iran’s deft negotiating in Geneva

TEHRAN, Dec. 22 (MNA) -- The Iranian delegation held talks with the representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in Geneva in early December and made it clear that Iran would never negotiate on its inalienable nuclear rights and secured an agreement that the focus of the next round of talks, which is scheduled to be held in late January in Istanbul, would be on “common ground for cooperation.”

A review of the recently disclosed details of talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany) in Geneva shows that Iran’s main negotiator, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, performed cleverly during the talks and utilized all the capacities of the Islamic system to defend the Iranian nation’s rights.

The Iranian nation, which chose aggressive diplomacy in the area of foreign policy in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections, once again enjoyed the sweet taste of this diplomacy as a result of the prudent performance of the Iranian delegation, particularly Saeed Jalili.

The following examples prove that Saeed Jalili wisely demanded the recognition of the Iranian nation’s rights during the Geneva talks and consolidated those rights:

(1) During the talks, when EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represented the countries of the 5+1 group, tried to show that Iran’s nuclear program is only in line with the policies of a specific administration and asked Jalili, “Why doesn’t the Ahmadinejad administration halt uranium enrichment?” Jalili made a clever move and showed the front page of an issue of the newspaper Iran Daily to the representatives of the 5+1 group. The front page published a report on the letter of 262 Iranian MPs to the administration calling for the continuation of uranium enrichment. Jalili then said, “If you believe in the principles of democracy, you should know you are talking about a democratic country in which the lawmakers are elected by the people’s vote. The continuation of uranium enrichment is a public demand in Iran.” After that, Ashton toned down her rhetoric and said, “We agree about this matter and believe that we should move forward with cooperation.”

(2) When a representative of the 5+1 group asked Jalili, “How can we explain the existence of 3500 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium and a few kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium in Iran to our people?” he replied, “Uranium enrichment is the right of our nation and all other nations, and there is no need to explain it to anyone. But you should tell us how we can explain the existence of 240 nuclear warheads in Europe to the world. And why does Europe need nuclear weapons in its defense policies?”

(3) While the 5+1 group had prepared a scenario for putting the Iranian delegation on trial over Iran’s nuclear program, Jalili put the ball back in their court and strongly criticized the United States for its disregard for non-proliferation treaties. He also presented two proposals on disarmament and non-proliferation and emphasized that discussion of these subjects could be the focus of future talks between Iran and the 5+1 group. Jalili leveled criticism at U.S. representative Nicholas Burns and bitterly censured the U.S. for its non-compliance with the resolution of the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) about the eradication of chemical weapons in the United States. He addressed the representatives of the 5+1 group and said, “According to this resolution, the U.S. was obligated to destroy all its chemical weapons by the year 2012, but there are some reports that the U.S. is seeking to postpone or cancel the implementation of this resolution.”

(4) Jalili proposed that nuclear non-proliferation as an international issue and the establishment of democracy as a regional issue should be topics of the future talks. Iran’s proposal for a discussion on the issue of democracy in the region at the next round of talks on the one hand undermined the position of the Western parties during the Geneva talks and showed that the nations of the Middle East don’t have a favorable view of the West’s policies, and on the other hand proved that Iran is certain that regional nations have a positive view of its policies.

(5) The top representative of the Supreme Leader also raised the issue of the economic crisis which has gripped Western countries and reminded the Western parties about Iran’s great economic potential, saying that Iran can help the West find a way out of the current economic crisis they are facing. Jalili also proposed that the West’s economic problems should be another subject to be discussed at the future talks. In this way, Jalili was able to deftly shift the focus of the talks with the major powers away from Iran’s nuclear issue to the problems facing Western countries. Discussion on issues other than Iran’s nuclear issue at the future talks has been clearly mentioned in the statement, which was read out by Ashton at the end of the Geneva talks.

(6) On the sidelines of the Geneva talks, a reporter from Fox News, a network which has shown outright hostility toward Iran and has a special relationship with the Zionist regime, tried repeatedly to arrange an interview with Jalili, but Iran’s main negotiator rejected the requests due to the U.S. media outlet’s anti-Iran record. When the Fox News reporter insisted on holding an interview with Jalili, he agreed to participate in the interview on the condition that the interview be aired live. Despite the possible consequences of a live interview with Jalili, the reporter agreed to the condition. Jalili took advantage of the opportunity and strongly criticized Israel for possessing 200 nuclear warheads on a television network that is a strong supporter of the Zionist regime.

(7) According to informed diplomatic sources, before the beginning of the Geneva talks, the foreign minister of one of the countries that has friendly relations with Iran made contact with Jalili and told him that the Western countries had agreed that Iran would be allowed to choose the venue for the next round of talks. This foreign minister had thought that Iran would become pleased at the news and agree to the Western countries’ request, but Jalili firmly rejected their request and said, “We should first see whether the talks yield any results or not.” He also said, “We don’t negotiate for (the sake of) negotiation and we seek to achieve fair and concrete results from negotiations.”



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