Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Iran shows 'serious engagement' at Istanbul nuclear talks

The international community set a low bar for Iran to cross and so far it appears to have stepped
over it, opening the way to a second round of negotiations


Istanbul. Photograph: Renaud Visage/Getty Images

The Iranian nuclear negotiations in Istanbul have broken for lunch and bilateral meetings are now taking place before a wrap-up session this evening. The news at half-time is generally good. Most importantly, diplomats say that the Iranian delegation have met the standard set for it by the major powers here of showing 'serious engagement'. As things stand, a second round of talks looks likely.

So peace in our time, at least for the next month or so until that next round when both sides will have to get much more specific. Today was about generalities, but those generalities were at least on the right subject, unlike the last Istanbul nuclear talks in January 2011 when Tehran's negotiator, Saeed Jalili, refused to even talk about his country's nuclear programme until all sanctions had been lifted.

Today, according to diplomats at the talks, the session was opened by the EU high representative for foreign policy, Cathy Ashton, who spent 15 minutes recalling the history of the off-on talks between Iran and the international community on the Iranian programme. Then Jalili replied and this is how a diplomat in the room described his speech:

It was no long or bombastic or propagandistic. The tone was calm and constructive. He said he was ready to seriously engage on the Iranian nuclear issue. There was no long prayer to the Mahdi.

Ashton then spoke again, pointing out that there was common ground at the talks represented by Iran's emphatic statements that the country had no interest in developing a nuclear weapon, and that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was the basis for any agreement, guaranteeing Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Then the senior diplomats from the six powers had their say. Russia recalled more of the history of negotiations. The French insisted on the primacy of compliance with UN security council resolutions. The Chinese recalled the old Lao Tzu proverb about a journey of a thousand miles beginning with a single step, the US said that relations between Washington and Tehran need not be so bad. The Germans made some general points, and the British summed up, saying this was not one of the world's insoluble problems. There was a possible solution.

Jalili disagreed with some of the points made but in the words of a diplomat present, the Iranian phrased the disagreement in non-confrontational terms, not accusing the other six nations of 'oppression' as Jalili did on the last occasion. He said that the Iranian people needed their confidence restored in negotiations, but were willing to talk. He ended with a call to set up a process of structured negotiations.

So no new initiatives have been spelled out, but crucially for the six nations, Jalili talked about the nuclear issue, and did not rule anything out. By that very low standard, the meeting is so far being judged as constructive enough to justify a second round, which may be in Baghdad if Iran sticks to its guns. In that round however, there will have to be something much more concrete on the table to keep this revived political process alive.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2012/apr/14/istanbul-iran-nuclear-talks?newsfeed=true