Commentary
The Iran Nuclear Negotiations
The representatives of the five permanent
members of the Security Council - Russia, China, the United States, Britain and
France - plus Germany have agreed on a new set of proposals as a basis for
discussion with Iran on its nuclear program. The proposals were drafted by the six major powers in Vienna on June 1
and delivered to Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali
Larijana, on June 6 in Tehran. The Iranian
authorities have stated that they will thoroughly study the proposal and reply
to it.
Although the contents of the proposal have not
been disclosed, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett released a brief
statement on behalf of the six major powers that said: "We are prepared to
resume negotiations should Iran resume suspension of all enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities as required by the IAEA. And we would also suspend
action in the Security Council. We also agreed that if Iran decides not to
engage in negotiations further steps would have to be taken in the Security
Council. So there are two paths ahead. We urge Iran to take the positive path
and to consider seriously our substantive proposals which would bring
significant benefits to Iran."
The statement closely resembles the position
announced by U.S. Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice
at a press conference on May 31, the day before the Vienna meeting, in which she stated that the U.S. would agree
to take part in direct negotiations with Iran on the condition that Iran
suspends its uranium enrichment activities. The offer to join in the
negotiations is a change of approach for the United States. Prior to May 31 the
United States had consistently opposed all negotiations and advocated that the
UN Security Council impose economic, political and military sanctions against
Iran.
Iran has always been open to a negotiated
settlement. It has already held extensive negotiations with the EU-3 and
Russia. The last round of negotiations were unilaterally terminated by the
EU-3. Then Russia made a proposal but negotiations were short-lived because the
United States did not agree with the Russian proposal. Iran did not set any
preconditions for any of the past negotiations nor has it set any preconditions
for a new round of negotiations. However, as a sovereign state, Iran considers
itself entitled to the same rights as any other state and expects other states
to respect those rights. If the United States and the other big powers are
viewing negotiations as anything other than talks amongst states with equal
rights then negotiations are unlikely to succeed.
The path of negotiations with Iran has always
been open to the United States, Britain, France and Germany. However, the
preferred approach of the Americans has been to get sanctions imposed by the UN
Security Council under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter on the grounds that Iran is
a threat to international peace and security. The problem with this approach is
that the U.S. have been unable to convince Russia and China to go along with
it. In other words, the change in the U.S. approach towards negotiations with
Iran, and the British, French and German offer to resume negotiations, does not
stem from a change of heart but from the failure of their preferred approach.
Does the change in the U.S. approach to
negotiations with Iran mean that the U.S. has abandoned its preferred approach?
Judging from the statements by the British Foreign Secretary and the U.S.
Secretary of State it does not seem so.
It is the position of Modern Communism
that all countries have an inalienable right to develop nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes. It is a decision for each country whether they develop
nuclear energy and to what extent it is developed. It is not the place for any
country to dictate to another country what they can do in this respect. There
is no reason why Iran should not have this technology while others like the
United States have it. When it comes to international peace and security it is
the United States that poses the biggest threat with the largest nuclear and
conventional arsenal of all countries.