By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
NEW YORK - Defying the onslaught of pessimistic predictions, the Geneva meeting on Thursday of Iran and the "Iran Six" nations did not end in failure, given the recent revelations of a second Iranian uranium-enrichment plant.
Rather, there was a mini-breakthrough in that both Iran on the one side and the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany on the other agreed to hold a follow-up meeting later this month. What is more, US and Iranian representatives met one-on-one on the sidelines of the meeting, following an 11th-hour request by the US on Wednesday.
Adding to the flurry of diplomatic initiatives surrounding the Geneva talks was a surprise move by the US Department of State to grant a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to visit Washington, ostensibly to inspect Iran's Interest Section. However, this unprecedented visit might have been mainly symbolic as a gesture of goodwill by the Barack Obama administration on the eve of the Geneva meeting.
Reciprocating the warm signals from Washington, Mottaki in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations reiterated Iran's readiness for comprehensive and constructive dialogue, while making it clear that Tehran's intention at the Geneva talks was to defend the country's nuclear rights.
"Our intention is also to see if there is a change of behavior on the part of the Obama administration and if we can detect evidence of a new behavior away from the hegemonic mindset and toward mutual respect," Mottaki said, adding that the threat of sanctions could "ruin opportunities for cooperation".
Mottaki's presence in the US has been a major plus for US-Iran diplomacy, by allowing Iran to complement its moves at the negotiation table in Geneva with Mottaki's string of interviews to the US media, meant to bolster Iran's public diplomacy.
Hi. Interesting reading. It is positive that there is perspective of further negotiations. As is mentioned in the article, and also in my opinion, threat of sanctions could cause threat to negotiations. On the other hand, the time should not be wasted with long talks about nothing. Progress in Iran's nuclear issue is inevitable.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
Ella