An Iranian Perspective on Nuclear Negotiations

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August 15, 2011

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Monday, August 15, 2011.

Is Iran Ready to Negotiate? Interview with Seyed Hossein Mousavian - Semira Nikou in The Iran Primer [link]

  • On the nuclear issue, the end state for the Iranians is full rights under the NPT, without discrimination over enrichment.
  • In response, Iran could demonstrate objective guarantees, more transparency and confidence-building measures in a number of ways...
  • ...[Including] commit not to enrich uranium above 5 percent...adhere to all international nuclear treaties...limit enrichment activities to its actual fuel needs... export all enriched uranium not used for domestic fuel... resolve all IAEA's remaining technical issues within the 2007 "Work Plan."
  • Sanctions have not, and will not, change Iran’s nuclear posture. This is just a reality that Iran’s interlocutors have to come to terms with.

SKorean President Calls for Cooperation With North as Diplomats Tentatively Pursue Nuke Talks - Associated Press [link]

  • South Korea’s president [Lee Myung-bak] called Monday for cooperation with rival North Korea and pledged limited humanitarian support for its suffering people as the two nations try to set aside animosity and pursue dialogue.
  • Although known as a hard-liner on North Korea, Lee has often sought to strike a balance between diplomacy and strength, offering dialogue for any signs of North Korean goodwill.
  • Recent weeks have seen renewed diplomatic hope. A senior North Korean official met last month with U.S. counterparts in New York to negotiate ways to restart the nuclear talks. That meeting followed friendly talks between North and South Korean nuclear envoys during a regional security forum in Indonesia.

Iran’s “Nuclear Partner” Russia Seeks to Revive Global Talks - Robin Pomeroy in Reuters [link]

  • [Russian] Presidential Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev is due to meet his Iranian counterpart and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Monday … [to discuss] Moscow's "step-by-step" approach under which Iran could address questions about its nuclear programme and be rewarded with a gradual easing of sanctions.
  • While Ahmadinejad maintains the sanctions are having no impact, other officials have started admitting some of the measures … are hurting the economy.
  • Any new talks are likely to focus on concerns about Iran's nuclear enrichment which a U.N. Security Council resolution requires it to stop.

View from the Dark Side

A Cold War Missile Treaty That’s Doing Us Harm - John R. Bolton and Paula A. DeSutter in the Wall Street Journal [link]

  • The [1988 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty] has far outlived its usefulness in its current form—so it should either be changed or thrown out … the U.S. (and Russia) remain constrained by the INF Treaty's terms.
  • ... we must either expand the INF Treaty's membership or abrogate it entirely so that we can rebuild our own deterrent capabilities.
  • The U.S. motto on the INF should be: Expand it or expunge it.