ANALYSIS:Despite yesterday's high-level talks in Geneva, tensions continue, writes LARA MARLOWE
HIGH-LEVEL talks between Iran and the US in Geneva yesterday were heralded by a series of goodwill gestures, but the substance of the disagreement over Iran’s “right” to enrich uranium is likely to persist.
Bill Burns, US undersecretary of state, held an unprecedented private meeting with Saeed Jalili, Iran’s nuclear negotiator, on the sidelines of six hours of talks between the P5 (Security Council members) + 1 (Germany) and Iran.
The parties agreed to meet again later this month. A US spokesman said Iranians and the big power representatives “dined and mingled” at lunch on the lawn of the Villa Le Saugy, overlooking Lake Geneva.
The US state department responded favourably to visa requests for the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, and his wife to visit the Iranian interests section at the Pakistani embassy in Washington on Wednesday. Mr Mottaki did not meet US officials, but it was believed to be the first such authorisation since the 1979 revolution.
The Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who represents US interests in the absence of diplomatic relations, was allowed to visit three US hikers who have been imprisoned in Iran since they were caught hiking in Iranian Kurdistan in August.
Earlier in the week, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, told Iranian television he was “working out a timetable for the inspection” of a uranium enrichment plant near Qom – a key western demand. And on Wednesday, Iranian news agencies quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying: “Our nuclear scientists are ready to negotiate with countries willing to sell us enriched uranium.” But Iranian officials often wax hot and cold, almost within the same breath. Mr Ahmadinejad’s tease that Iran would consider buying enriched uranium sits uneasily with Mr Jalili’s reiteration the previous day that Iran would not discuss its “right” to enrich uranium.
Three UN Security Council resolutions have demanded that Iran stop enrichment, which Iran claims is for a civil nuclear power programme. Though Russia repeatedly offered to provide enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, the deal never materialised.
Iran observed a two-year moratorium on enrichment when it started negotiations with the E3 (Britain, France and Germany) in 2003. The Islamic Republic complained it received no reward for its sacrifice, and resumed enrichment when Mr Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005.
The “freeze for freeze” deal on offer in Geneva would freeze UN sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran freezing uranium enrichment.
President Barack Obama’s advisers believe three factors provide hope of success where earlier negotiations with Iran failed: the change of US administration, the pressure put on Tehran by the revelation of the Qom facility a week ago and internal divisions in Iran following last June’s irregular presidential election. Mr Ahmadinejad congratulated Mr Obama on his election (though Mr Obama did not reply) and this week expressed a desire to meet him.
But after six years of going in circles, European negotiators show signs of impatience. British prime minister Gordon Brown and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy were reportedly annoyed that Mr Obama refused to make the announcement about the Qom facility during the UN General Assembly. Mr Obama has dropped the Bush administration’s demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment before negotiations begin. And according to the Financial Times, European leaders fear the US might consider allowing enrichment to continue in some form, in exchange for greater access for UN weapons inspectors.
There have been few contacts between the two countries since the US broke off relations in the wake of the 1979 revolution. The most memorable was the dispatch of then national security adviser Robert McFarlane and an aide to Tehran in 1986. They carried a cake and a Bible, and travelled on Irish passports stolen from the consular section in Athens.