Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
May 31, 2008 Diplomat says issue is one of national pride
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - A series of increasingly strong UN sanctions against Iran has only hardened the regime's resolve to press ahead with its nuclear program, Mohammad Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said this week.
"This has become an issue of national pride," he said during an hourlong interview at Iran's permanent mission in New York. Regardless of what Iran is offered in talks, he said, "the Iranian people will not accept suspension" of its enrichment program as the UN Security Council has demanded.
Still, he said, Iran is seeking to resume negotiations over a wide range of topics, including some aspects of its nuclear program.
A May 13 proposal by Iran to the UN secretary general suggested six months of negotiations on regional security, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, energy cooperation, and narcotics trafficking, as well as ways to improve international nuclear safeguards and monitoring and prevent the diversion of nuclear material.
Iran submitted its proposal as the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, prepares to offer a new package of economic incentives to Iran in exchange for a prolonged suspension of Iranian enrichment activities.
The timing led State Department officials and some European diplomats to dismiss Iran's own package as an attempt to divert attention from Solana's offers or change the subject from Iran's defiance of Security Council resolutions.
"We see it as nothing really new," said a Washington-based European diplomat who asked that his name be withheld because he is not authorized to be quoted in the press. "Now we have no choice. If Iran doesn't move [to suspend enrichment], we have to increase the sanctions, and also to make the package more attractive."
But others see the Iranian offer as a hopeful sign that Tehran is moving to end international censure.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank, said the Iranian offer "shows a willingness" to negotiate, unlike a 2006 Tehran proposal that seemed aimed at frustrating talks.
Khazaee described the Iranian proposal as a sincere attempt to open talks on areas of common ground.
"Some people - basically the United States, and maybe a couple of European countries - have been raising the claim that Iran is not ready to cooperate with the international community and Iran is going to isolate itself," he said. "Basically, one of the main messages of this [May 13] package is that such assumptions are wrong."
Khazaee said Iran would carefully consider Solana's offer, which reportedly includes new economic incentives and may allow limited enrichment research.
The ambassador said his country would not suspend its own enrichment program, but would consider establishing an internationally owned consortium inside Iran that could produce nuclear fuel with Iranian participation. Iran's May 13 proposal referred to the idea, but gave no details.
"How it is going to work, what is the legal framework for that, what are the economics aspects of it, as far as investments are concerned; these are things that I think a group of experts should get together and discuss," Khazaee said.
He said Tehran expects negotiations to go forward on the basis of its own proposal and include the broader subjects that Iran wants to discuss. "The issues that are on the table for our cooperation with the other side are not only confined to the peaceful nuclear peaceful program of Iran," he said. "There are other issues that should be addressed."
Iran's uranium enrichment program has been under heavy scrutiny since 2002, when its existence was disclosed by an Iranian exile group. Iran insists that its clandestine facility was being built for peaceful purposes, but a report released this week by the UN nuclear watchdog said serious questions remain about why Iran refuses to allow international inspectors to question scientists about documents the United States believe prove that Iran's program has been geared toward military use.
Khazaee said Solana must give Iran time to study his offer. Iran rejected a similar offer in 2006 that included membership to the World Trade Organization and access to spare parts for Iran's aging aircraft in exchange for Iran forgoing enrichment and receiving nuclear fuel from abroad. "If it is going to be the same [as the package offered to Iran in 2006], it was not a comprehensive package, but we hope there are enough changes and we have to look at them," Khazaee said.
Throughout the interview, Khazaee returned often to the theme of national pride. He said historic talks on Iraqi security between the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and Iranian diplomats broke down after the United States insulted Iran publicly after the meetings.
"After the negotiations, the US side came out . . . and made political statements, as if he was a judge in a courtroom, saying, 'OK, we ruled this, we ruled that, we told the Iranians this, we told the Iranians that,' " he said. "What do you expect from your partner in negotiations when they see that you come out from the room and you talk like that?"
He also said the recent US attacks on Sadr City and other areas in Iraq made it impossible to continue talks, although he maintained that Iranian officials remain ready to resume if conditions improve.
Khazaee said tensions between Iran and the United States will ease if the next American president respects Iran and realizes Iran's power and role in the region and the world.
"Anybody who becomes president of the United States should realize that Iranians are a great nation, a great civilization, with great regional and global potential and capacities," he said.
Recognizing that, he said, "would pave the ground for a better understanding and a reduction of tension."
May 31, 2008 Diplomat says issue is one of national pride
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - A series of increasingly strong UN sanctions against Iran has only hardened the regime's resolve to press ahead with its nuclear program, Mohammad Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, said this week.
"This has become an issue of national pride," he said during an hourlong interview at Iran's permanent mission in New York. Regardless of what Iran is offered in talks, he said, "the Iranian people will not accept suspension" of its enrichment program as the UN Security Council has demanded.
Still, he said, Iran is seeking to resume negotiations over a wide range of topics, including some aspects of its nuclear program.
A May 13 proposal by Iran to the UN secretary general suggested six months of negotiations on regional security, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, energy cooperation, and narcotics trafficking, as well as ways to improve international nuclear safeguards and monitoring and prevent the diversion of nuclear material.
Iran submitted its proposal as the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, prepares to offer a new package of economic incentives to Iran in exchange for a prolonged suspension of Iranian enrichment activities.
The timing led State Department officials and some European diplomats to dismiss Iran's own package as an attempt to divert attention from Solana's offers or change the subject from Iran's defiance of Security Council resolutions.
"We see it as nothing really new," said a Washington-based European diplomat who asked that his name be withheld because he is not authorized to be quoted in the press. "Now we have no choice. If Iran doesn't move [to suspend enrichment], we have to increase the sanctions, and also to make the package more attractive."
But others see the Iranian offer as a hopeful sign that Tehran is moving to end international censure.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think tank, said the Iranian offer "shows a willingness" to negotiate, unlike a 2006 Tehran proposal that seemed aimed at frustrating talks.
Khazaee described the Iranian proposal as a sincere attempt to open talks on areas of common ground.
"Some people - basically the United States, and maybe a couple of European countries - have been raising the claim that Iran is not ready to cooperate with the international community and Iran is going to isolate itself," he said. "Basically, one of the main messages of this [May 13] package is that such assumptions are wrong."
Khazaee said Iran would carefully consider Solana's offer, which reportedly includes new economic incentives and may allow limited enrichment research.
The ambassador said his country would not suspend its own enrichment program, but would consider establishing an internationally owned consortium inside Iran that could produce nuclear fuel with Iranian participation. Iran's May 13 proposal referred to the idea, but gave no details.
"How it is going to work, what is the legal framework for that, what are the economics aspects of it, as far as investments are concerned; these are things that I think a group of experts should get together and discuss," Khazaee said.
He said Tehran expects negotiations to go forward on the basis of its own proposal and include the broader subjects that Iran wants to discuss. "The issues that are on the table for our cooperation with the other side are not only confined to the peaceful nuclear peaceful program of Iran," he said. "There are other issues that should be addressed."
Iran's uranium enrichment program has been under heavy scrutiny since 2002, when its existence was disclosed by an Iranian exile group. Iran insists that its clandestine facility was being built for peaceful purposes, but a report released this week by the UN nuclear watchdog said serious questions remain about why Iran refuses to allow international inspectors to question scientists about documents the United States believe prove that Iran's program has been geared toward military use.
Khazaee said Solana must give Iran time to study his offer. Iran rejected a similar offer in 2006 that included membership to the World Trade Organization and access to spare parts for Iran's aging aircraft in exchange for Iran forgoing enrichment and receiving nuclear fuel from abroad. "If it is going to be the same [as the package offered to Iran in 2006], it was not a comprehensive package, but we hope there are enough changes and we have to look at them," Khazaee said.
Throughout the interview, Khazaee returned often to the theme of national pride. He said historic talks on Iraqi security between the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and Iranian diplomats broke down after the United States insulted Iran publicly after the meetings.
"After the negotiations, the US side came out . . . and made political statements, as if he was a judge in a courtroom, saying, 'OK, we ruled this, we ruled that, we told the Iranians this, we told the Iranians that,' " he said. "What do you expect from your partner in negotiations when they see that you come out from the room and you talk like that?"
He also said the recent US attacks on Sadr City and other areas in Iraq made it impossible to continue talks, although he maintained that Iranian officials remain ready to resume if conditions improve.
Khazaee said tensions between Iran and the United States will ease if the next American president respects Iran and realizes Iran's power and role in the region and the world.
"Anybody who becomes president of the United States should realize that Iranians are a great nation, a great civilization, with great regional and global potential and capacities," he said.
Recognizing that, he said, "would pave the ground for a better understanding and a reduction of tension."