Tehran lays out proposal to end nuclear deadlock
IRAN said it had presented “logical” proposals in talks with six world powers yesterday aimed at achieving a breakthrough in a decade-old standoff over its disputed nuclear programme that has heightened the risk of a new Middle East war.
Tehran launched negotiations in earnest with the US, Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany, reflecting the election in June of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as new Iranian president, raising hopes for an end to the deadlock.
After years of ideological defiance, Iran appeared keen for a negotiated settlement to win relief from sanctions that have hobbled its economy, slashed 60% off its daily oil export revenue and caused a steep devaluation of the rial currency. Details of the Iranian proposal were not immediately available. Western diplomats have cautioned in the past that Tehran appeared reluctant to offer sufficient nuclear concessions to secure a deal.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said, however, that the global powers had “welcomed” Tehran’s proposals and the substantive details would be discussed later in the day at the deputy foreign minister level.
“We think that the proposal we have made has the capacity to make a breakthrough. We had a very serious and good meeting this morning. The questions that were asked regarding Iran’s plan were completely serious and our answers were as well. Both sides felt that the opposite side was continuing the negotiations with motivation,” Mr Araqchi said.
“We are very serious. We are not here to waste time. We are serious for a real target-oriented
We are serious for a real targetoriented negotiation
negotiation,” Mr Araqchi said.
The West suspects Iran is trying to develop the means to make nuclear arms behind the screen of a declared civilian atomic energy programme. Tehran denies this, but its refusal to limit activity applicable to nuclear bomb production, or to permit unfettered United Nations inspections, has drawn severe sanctions.
In a possible sign of the Islamic Republic’s determination to meaningfully address specifics of the powers’ concerns after years of sidestepping them, the talks in Geneva were conducted in English for the first time.
A spokesman for the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who oversees diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the six nations, said there was a sense of “cautious optimism” ahead of the meeting and that Ms Ashton and Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, dined together on Monday evening in a “very positive atmosphere”.
On a personal level, the talks were complicated for Mr Zarif, by persistent back pain, which landed him in hospital last week.
Returning to his hotel from preliminary discussions, he declined to talk to reporters, saying: “I’m really in pain.”
On the eve of the talks, Washington held out the prospect of quick sanctions relief if Tehran moved swiftly to allay concerns about its nuclear programme, but both countries said any deal would be complex and take time. “We definitely hope that the new momentum will translate into some concrete step forward,” a western diplomat said.