Nuclear Crisis

[Rasputin]

Enrichment halt a 'misunderstanding'

Government spokesman Ghulam Hussein Elham told a weekly press conference in Tehran Monday "Iran has not reached a decision in that regard yet and the whole issue (about enrichment suspension) was a misunderstanding."

Tehran has ignored an Aug. 31 deadline served by the international community to suspend uranium enrichment or face possible U.N. sanctions.

Iran insists its controversial nuclear program is for civilian energy use but Western powers, especially the United States, suspect it may be used for building nuclear weapons.

Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana at recent talks in Brussels that Tehran is willing to discuss its nuclear program and uranium enrichment-related activities.

But the five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China -- in addition to Germany, have set enrichment suspension as a precondition to restarting nuclear talks.

Elham reiterated Iran's rejection of preconditioned talks on its controversial nuclear program, saying, "Talks must be without preconditions... No result can be achieved under threats and conditions."

[Rasputin]

US: Iran must suspend nuclear activities

NEW YORK - The United States signalled Monday that it would accept a temporary but "verifiable" freeze of Iran's uranium enrichment programs as a condition for talks on ending the atomic standoff with Tehran.
"We need to see a verifiable suspension of the (uranium) enrichment program, and then the United States would be prepared to join the negotiations," said White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

Asked whether that meant a permanent freeze or a temporary suspension, Hadley told reporters: "It doesn't say termination, it says suspension."

He was referring to talks with Iran on an incentives package offered by the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany, collectively dubbed the "P5 plus one."

Hadley, speaking as US President George W. Bush traveled here for the United Nations General Assembly, warned against expecting any breakthrough in the tense standoff over Iran's nuclear programs.

Hadley said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would hold a "stock-taking" meeting with her counterparts from the "P5 plus one" amid US efforts to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

"It will be part of the ongoing process of coming together behind a resolution in the Security Council that would involve sanctions on Iran for their failure to meet the requirements the international community has set out in the last resolution," he said.

"So that process will be ongoing. It won't certainly conclude over the next two days, it will be an ongoing process," said Hadley.

[Rasputin]

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that Iran is just "a few months" from being able to enrich uranium, a key step to producing a nuclear bomb.

"The crucial moment is not the day of the bomb. The crucial moment is the day in which Iran will master the enrichment, the knowledge of enrichment," Livni said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Iranians "are trying to send a message that it's too late" for the international community to stop their nuclear program, Livni said, noting that the world "cannot afford" for Iran to have nuclear weapons.

"It's not only a threat to Israel," she said. "The recent understanding, also, of moderate Arab states is that Iran is a threat to the region."

Washington has been pushing for sanctions to force Tehran to stop producing enriched uranium, which can be used for both nuclear power and atomic weapons.

The UN Security Council demands that Iran suspend its nuclear activities by Aug. 31. In its Resolution 1696 adopted in July, the Security Council for the first time makes legally binding demands on Iran and a threat of sanctions.

Iran refuses to suspend its uranium enrichment, saying the work is only to make fuel for electricity generation. Enditem

[Rasputin]

Iran denies reports on short-term enrichment suspension

An Iranian government spokesman on Monday denied reports that Iran could agree to a short-term enrichment suspension for resumption of talks on its nuclear issue, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Gholam-Hossein Elham told a weekly press conference that any reports about Iran's possible agreement to suspend its nuclear program was a "misunderstanding."

"Iran has made no decision whatsoever to suspend enrichment, "IRNA quoted Elham as saying.

However, the spokesman underlined that all issues pertinent to Iran's nuclear case "can be raised in the negotiations."

On Sept. 10, diplomats who declined to be named said after talks between senior Iranian and EU negotiators that Iran was ready to consider suspending uranium enrichment for up to two months.

Aliasghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has already denied that Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had proposed suspending uranium enrichment to up to two months during the talks with Solana.

Iran refused to comply with the UN Security Council resolution1696 demanding Iran suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.

IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei has presented a report to the UN Security Council saying "Iran has continued enriching uranium despite a UN nuclear deadline for it to suspend or face possible sanctions."

At an informal meeting in Brussels earlier this month, European Union foreign ministers decided to maintain serious talks with Tehran in efforts to solve Iran's nuclear issue through diplomacy.

[donsaeid]

شيراك: پاريس از موضع روسيه و چين براي ادامه مذاكره با ايران حمايت مي كند

ژاك شيراك رييس جمهور فرانسه بار ديگر با درخواست بوش براي اعمال تحريمهاي تجاري بر ضد ايران مخالفت كرد و مذاكره و گفت و گو را تنها راه حل پرونده هسته اي ايران اعلام كرد .


خبرگزاري رويترز به نقل از شيراك افزود : فرانسه مخالف اعمال هر گونه تحريم تجاري و سياسي بر ضد ايران است و پاريس از موضع روسيه و چين براي ادامه مذاكرات حمايت خواهد كرد .
وي تصريح كرد : ابزار تحريم به هيچ وجه كارآيي لازم را براي برخورد با پرونده هسته اي ايران نخواهد داشت . شوراي امنيت نيز بايد از تهديدهاي خود مبني بر اعمال تحريمهاي تجاري بر ضد ايران دست بردارد .
وي تاكيد كرد : تحريمهاي تجاري نه تنها پرونده هسته اي ايران را حل و فصل نخواهد كرد بلكه موضوع هسته اي را بيش از پيش پيچيده تر خواهد كرد .

[Rasputin]

Rice says U.S. will pursue sanctions against Iran

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday the international community faced a "credibility issue" if it did not impose U.N. sanctions against Iran for refusing to abandon nuclear activities.

Rice, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said Washington would continue to push the world body to impose sanctions against Iran after it failed to heed an August 31 U.N. deadline to give up enrichment activities.

"The international community also has a credibility issue. We said as of August 31 suspend (enrichment) or we will pursue sanctions. We are talking to our partners about that course," Rice said in an interview with CBS.

Rice is set to have dinner on Tuesday with foreign ministers from the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council as well as Germany and Italy to discuss how to deal with Iran.

China and Russia, who both have veto powers on the Council, are wary of punitive measures against Iran and some of Washington's allies such as France have argued against a rush toward sanctions.

European foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who has been negotiating with Iran, has also said it would be wrong to push for a sanctions resolution while he was making progress in talks with Tehran.

President Bush will address the U.N. General Assembly later on Tuesday on Iran and other issues when he is expected to push the U.S. case for strong action against Tehran.

Asked whether the United States might be prepared to speak to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is also in New York, Rice reiterated the U.S. position that this would happen only if Tehran abandoned its nuclear ambitions.

Iran argues its nuclear work is to generate power while the United States and its allies say Tehran is trying to build a bomb.

"If Iran is prepared to suspend that, we will be prepared for the first time in decades to sit down across the table from the Iranians and talk," Rice told ABC's "Good Morning America" show.

"I would meet anywhere with my counterpart, at any time, once they have suspended enrichment and reprocessing," she added.

[Rasputin]

France's Chirac Not in Favor of Iran Sanctions

In a potential break with the Bush administration, French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that he is "never in favor of sanctions" and suggested that the United States and other nations could begin talks with Iran on its nuclear program before Iran formally suspends its nuclear activities.

Chirac's remarks came as President Bush prepared to address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, part of an intensifying U.S. drive to secure international sanctions against Iran. The French president, in a 45-minute interview on European radio, appeared to upend that diplomatic drive and signaled a widening breach on Iran between the United States and European partners, reminiscent of the debate over the Iraq invasion four years ago.

Perhaps mindful of those tensions, some U.S. officials both publicly and privately played down Chirac's comments, insisting there was little daylight between the U.S. and French positions. But others said that the remarks took them by surprise and that they would seek an explanation from the French at meetings on Tuesday.

In his speech, Bush plans to take a far less aggressive approach to Iran than he did four years ago in arguing for action against Iraq, U.S. officials said, casting the debate over Iran as part of a noble effort to bring democracy to the Middle East. The officials said that Iran will not be the major focus of the speech and that Bush also plans to announce he will name a special envoy to spearhead efforts to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region.

Chirac's comments represented another potential hurdle for Bush, who is coming to the United Nations this week seeking considerable assistance from the world community, including peacekeeping troops for Lebanon, financial aid for the reconstruction of Iraq and political support for his efforts to shut down Iran's nuclear program. At the same time, however, U.S. leverage has been weakened by the ongoing war in Iraq, and diplomats are skeptical that the lofty theme of Bush's speech Tuesday -- bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East -- will be of much practical significance in swaying countries to Bush's side.

In fact, Chirac, who will meet with Bush before the American president's speech, noted in the radio interview that the difficulties in Iraq showed he had been right to oppose that war in the first place.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser in the Carter administration, said if Bush offers another "pep talk" about democratization in the Middle East, he risks losing an audience skeptical of the U.S. venture in Iraq and what it sees as a lack of American engagement in promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

"The speech is a major challenge, and if he plays it intelligently he can regain some of the ground he has lost," said Brzezinski, a trustee at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "He would be well advised to take a moderate tone. . . . He hopes to isolate [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. If he adopts a belligerent tone and makes threats, it will be easy for Ahmadinejad to isolate him."

Bush is clearly hoping to make democracy promotion the theme of this week's meetings marking the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, and he held several meetings Monday with the leaders of countries the White House considers emerging democracies -- El Salvador, Honduras and Tanzania -- as well as Malaysia, whose government advocates a moderate form of Islam.

But Iran was shaping up as his major strategic challenge. In June, the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, offered to negotiate with Iran on a package of incentives to end its uranium-enrichment program, but only if Iran verifiably froze its nuclear activities first -- a stance that was affirmed in a U.N. Security Council resolution only last month. But under Chirac's formulation, that red line apparently would be erased.

"I believe that on the one hand that Iran and the six countries must first establish a schedule for negotiation, then must embark on negotiations," Chirac said, apparently referring to setting up an agenda for the talks. "And during these negotiations, I suggest that on the one hand the six give up on referring the matter to the Security Council and that Iran should give up the enrichment of uranium for the duration of the negotiations."

Chirac met last week with a senior Iranian envoy, Hashemi Samareh, who appealed to Chirac by saying Iran wanted to be partners with France and the rest of Europe in creating a stable Middle East, according to European diplomats briefed on the talks. Samareh also noted that Iran believed Lebanon's government might soon fall, which some took as a not-so-subtle warning about Iran's influence in a country with close ties to France.

[Rasputin]

Chirac's comments Monday were sometimes imprecise, leaving them open to interpretation. U.S. officials chose to focus on second half of his statement -- his call for Iran to suspend its nuclear program -- to argue that Chirac was not changing the terms of the agreement. One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he did not think Chirac was asking for the United States to sit at the table with the Iranians before the Iranian programs were frozen.

Another U.S. official said Chirac's public comments mattered less than what he tells Bush in private Tuesday morning. On Tuesday evening, Rice will hold a dinner with her counterparts from France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and Italy, in what U.S. officials billed as a session to determine what elements would be in a sanctions resolution.

Nile Gardiner, a foreign policy expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Chirac's remarks were "deeply unhelpful" to U.S. efforts to secure international support for sanctions against Iraq. "It will generally reduce the likelihood of a U.N. Security Council resolution," he said. "The French are going to fight tooth and nail against the imposition of European sanctions, which is certainly a big blow to the U.S. and Britain."

European Union negotiator Javier Solana has been leading talks with a senior Iranian official on the nuclear program, Ali Larijani, in an effort to find a face-saving solution that would permit talks to begin without making it appear that Iran was buckling under pressure.

One of the formulas under discussion would have the European Union countries begin the talks, and then the United States would join them once Iran suspended its programs -- which by itself would be a softening of the original offer that no talks would start until Iran suspends.

While U.S. officials announced Monday that Larijani has not yet come to New York, Solana told reporters he remained confident the two would meet this week.

[Rasputin]

Iran rejects accelerated UN talks on its nuclear program

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected speeding up negotiations with world powers over its disputed nuclear program during a visit to Venezuela.

Talks "are continuing, and I see no reason to speed them up," he said at a press conference before departing Venezuela for the UN General Assembly in New York.

"Iran's nuclear program is very clear and very transparent," the president said. "We have always said that we are willing to negotiate with any country."

If nuclear energy "is something good then everyone should have it, and if it is bad then nobody should have it," he said at the end of his two-day visit.

Ahmadinejad accused Western powers of wanting to control nuclear technology "and when another country needs it they sell it at a high price."

Ahmadinejad's comments came as France offered a key concession to Iran, with French President Jacques Chirac saying world powers should be ready to talk to Iran without threatening sanctions -- even if Tehran fails to halt uranium enrichment ahead of the negotiations.

The United States and other Western countries fear that Iran's uranium enrichment work could be used to develop a nuclear bomb.

Washington is pushing for United Nations sanctions to force Tehran to halt the program after Iran ignored a UN resolution that gave it until August 31 to stop enrichment activities. Tehran insists that it seeks peaceful nuclear power to meet its energy needs.

Countries that oppose Iran's uranium enrichment program "want to be an obstacle to the development of our people," the Iranian president said.

Ahmadinejad also blasted the "injustice" of the current United Nations system that allows for five unelected permanent Security Council members with veto rights.

In New York, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that he will meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani this week in New York and that key progress had been made in talks.

Solana, who has been negotiating for the six major powers to try to resolve the standoff with Iran, did not give a date for the meeting but he is scheduled to leave New York on Friday.

Ahmadinejad was headed to New York where he will address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

During his Venezuela visit, Ahmadinejad signed energy agreements and inaugurated an Iranian-Venezuelan oil well along with President Hugo Chavez.

The Venezuelan president, who shares Ahmadinejad's hostility towards the United States, accused Washington of preparing to attack Iran over its nuclear program.

The United States was "ready for aggression against Iran" and said Tehran had the right to develop a peaceful nuclear program.

"They view Iran as a terrorist state and radical dictatorship with nuclear arms," said Chavez, who Washington has accused of destabilizing Latin America.

The US administration has said it will pursue a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions but has refused to rule out possible military action.

[Rasputin]

EU's Solana to hold pivotal talks with Iran on nuclear crisis

NEW YORK (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana planned to meet Iran's top nuclear negotiator this week in New York, as the United States faced increasing reluctance among European allies to impose sanctions on Tehran.



Solana, who has been negotiating for the six major powers over Iran's uranium enrichment work, said Monday that he would meet Iran's Ali Larijani at an unspecified time during the week and that ongoing talks had produced progress.

"This meeting will be important, no doubt," Solana told reporters before holding talks with Bolivia's President Evo Morales on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

As world powers conferred on how to resolve the deadlock over Iran's nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was due to arrive in New York on Tuesday to deliver a speech to the General Assembly, as was US President George W. Bush.

The United States and its allies believe that Iran's nuclear program hides a bid to build a nuclear weapon. Iran has insisted its nuclear activity is entirely peaceful and designed to generate electricity.

Solana has recently expressed optimism about the possibility of a negotiated settlement with Iran, despite a US drive to impose sanctions.

Solana and Larijani last met on September 9-11 in Vienna, after Iran failed to adhere to a UN resolution 1696 that called on the country to halt uranium enrichment work by August 31 or face the prospect of sanctions.

Referring to resolution 1696, Solana said: "It would be reasonable not to have a new one (resolution) as long as the door to dialogue is open."

He added: "It would be contradictory to do so while we continue to negotiate."

Solana said there had recently been almost daily contacts with the Iranian authorities. "It is during this time that we have made the most progress since the start of negotiations several years ago."

Solana is negotiating with the Iranians for the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany to persuade Tehran to accept political and economic incentives in return for suspending its sensitive nuclear work.

Washington has argued for imposing sanctions but other world powers have been reluctant to proceed. France said on Monday negotiations could go ahead even if Tehran failed to halt uranium enrichment activities.

In a policy shift, US officials signalled Monday that they were willing to back European negotiations aimed at convincing Iran to at least temporarily freeze its program to enrich uranium, even though this will delay Washington's parallel drive for sanctions.

"It's a strategy, to try to do everything possible to convince Iran to take a positive pathway," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the approach.

"You have two activities that are going on here," he said, referring to Solana's negotiations and the US lobbying for sanctions at the Security Council.

Asked if sanctions against Iran could come before the end of the year, McCormack said: "Absent any change of behaviour or position from the Iranians, yes."

As recently as Friday, Bush criticised those arguing for further negotiations with Iran and said he would tell fellow leaders in New York this week that "stalling shouldn't be allowed."

But the Americans have found themselves increasingly isolated among the six-nation coalition facing off with Iran, which in the past has sought to divide the US and European governments.

In a sign of possible transatlantic discord, French President Jacques Chirac said that world powers should pursue talks with Iran without threatening sanctions, even though Tehran has failed to halt uranium enrichment work.

"I propose that, on the one hand, the six refrain from referring the issue to the Security Council, and that Iran renounce during the negotiation the enrichment of uranium," Chirac said.

Asked to comment on the emerging two-track approach, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would only say that it would be discussed Tuesday night at a foreign ministers' meeting of the six major powers plus Italy.

But she said that the Security Council was not expected to discuss a sanctions package this week, despite earlier assurances from Washington that sanctions would be in place by the end of the month.

Solana's talks this week with Larijani were expected to focus on a compromise formula that would involve Iran agreeing to a temporary suspension of its uranium enrichment program.

But it was unclear whether Iran's leadership, which is reportedly divided on the nuclear issue, would agree to even a temporary halt to its enrichment program.

Speaking in Caracas on Monday, the Iranian president said current negotiations should be finished before the United Nations becomes involved again.

Talks "are continuing, and I see no reason to speed them up," he told a press conference before flying to New York.

"Iran's nuclear program is very clear and very transparent," he said. "We have always said that we are willing to negotiate with any country."

[mike435]

http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/world/2006/09/19/todd.the.case.against****an.cnn

[Rasputin]

با توجه به تفاوت ديدگاهها در ميان کشورهای پنج باضافه يک بر سر تحريم ايران, مواضع ماجراجويانه رژيم اسلامی, و ادامه برخوردهای دوگانه آمريکا, مسير و چشم انداز بحران ناشی از پرونده هسته ای ايران همچنان مبهم است...


روشنگری:از جمله محورهای مهم مورد توجه در سخنرانی ها و نشست های حاشيه ای سران کشورهای شرکت کننده در مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل متحد پرونده هسته ای ايران بوده است.
مقامات چين و آمريکا در اين زمينه رايزنی کردند. به گزارش رسانه ها يکی از محورها مذاکرات سه کشور اروپايی فنلاند, آلمان و فرانسه با کشورهای عضو شورای همکاری خليج فارس پرونده هسته ای ايران بوده است. جرج بوش در نطق خود به اين پرونده اشاره کرد و محور گفتگوهايش با ژاک شيراک نيز همين پرونده و چگونگی حل و فصل آن بوده است.
از مجموعه گزارش های منتشره چنين برمی آيد که فرانسه همراه با چين و روسيه تمايلی به اعمال بلاواسطه مجازات ها و تحريم عليه ايران ندارد.
ژاک شيراک گفت:"فرانسه مخالف اعمال هر گونه تحريم تجارى و سياسى بر ضد ايران است و پاريس از موضع روسيه و چين براى ادامه مذاكرات حمايت خواهد كرد."
وى تصريح كرد:"ابزار تحريم به هيچ وجه كارآيى لازم را براى برخورد با پرونده هسته اى ايران نخواهد داشت. شوراى امنيت نيز بايد از تهديدهاى خود مبنى بر اعمال تحريم هاى تجارى بر ضد ايران دست بردارد."
وى تاكيد كرد:"تحريم هاى تجارى نه تنها پرونده هسته اى ايران را حل و فصل نخواهد كرد بلكه موضوع هسته اى را بيش از پيش پيچيده تر خواهد كرد."
گرچه شيراک در ديدار خود با جرج بوش در حاشيه مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل اعلام کرد "تا زمانى كه ايران برنامه غنى سازى خود را متوقف نكرده است اروپا با اين كشور مذاكره نخواهد كرد."
از سوی ديگر جرج بوش با لحنی تهديد آميز گفت:"اگر رهبران ايران از توقف غنى سازى خوددارى كنند، ما درباره تبعات اين تصميم بحث خواهيم كرد."
وی در سخنرانی خود در مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل خطاب به مردم ايران گفت:"شورای امنيت قطعنامهای را تصويب کرده که از رژيم ايران خواسته است به تعهدات بين المللی خود گردن بگذارد. حکومت ايران بايد فعاليتهای نظامی هستهای خود را کنار بگذارد. بر خلاف آنچه که رژيم ايران به شما ميگويد، آمريکا هيچ مخالفتی با استفاده صلح آميز ايران از انرژی هستهای ندارد. ما در پی يافتن راه حلی ديپلماتيک برای اين بحران هستيم."

در همين راستا کاندوليزا رايس وزير خارجه آمريکا نيز در مصاحبه با شبكه خبرى سى بى اس گفت: "مادامى كه ايران دست كم موقتا برنامه غنى سازى خود را متوقف نكند، آمريكا وارد هيچ مذاكراتى با ايران نخواهد شد."
وى گفت: "اگر مذاكرات جداگانه اروپا و ايران منجر به تعليق غنى سازى در ايران شود، اين براى ما بسيار جالب خواهد بود، ما اعلام كرده ايم كه اگر ايران آماده تعليق باشد، ما حاضر به مذاكره هستيم و زمينه را براى حضور در نظام بين المللى فراهم خواهيم كرد و من حاضرم با همتاى ايرانى خود در هر زمان ممكن ديدار و گفتگو كنم."
وی در عين حال با تاکيد بر اين که: "اگر سازمان ملل، ايران را بخاطر امتناع از توقف فعاليتهاى هستهاى تحريم نكند، جامعه بينالمللى با مسئله اعتبار مواجه خواهد شد." گفت:
"ما گفتيم كه تا 31 اوت وقت تعليق است يا اين كه تحريمها را پى خواهيم گرفت. ما درباره اين روند با شركاى خود مذاكره ميكنيم."
عليرغم اظهارات بوش و رايس بر راه حل ديپلماتيک برای پرونده هسته ای ايران, آمريکا
همچنان به زمينه سازی برای مجازات ها ادامه می دهد. شان مککورمک سخنگوی وزارت امور خارجهی آمريکا در تشريح سياست اين کشور گفت:"در حاليکه مذاکرات اروپا با ايران ادامه دارد، شورای امنيت ميتواند با توجه به امکان شکست گفتگوها به موضوع تحريم ايران بپردازد."
نيكولاس برنز معاون وزير خارجه آمريكا در امور سياسى نيز گفت:"در صورتى كه ايران از تعليق برنامههاى هستهاى خوددارى كند، اولين تحريمى كه با آن روبرو خواهد شد، كاهش دسترسى به فناورى هاى پيشرفته غيرنظامى است."
وی افزود:"ما معتقديم در مرحله اول بايد اين تحريم ها اعمال شود و ممكن است در چند مرحله تحريمهاى ديگرى بايد به تدريج عليه ايران وضع شود و اين تحريمها بايد بر حاكميت و برنامههاى هستهاى ايران متمركز شود."
وى فناورى هاى غير نظامى از "آنچه كه ميتواند به ايران كمك كند، به سلاح هسته اى دست يابد،" معنی کرد.
وى در كميته روابط خارجى سناى آمريكا گفت:"5 كشور عضو دائم شوراى امنيت سازمان ملل و آلمان بر سر اين موضوع اتفاق نظر دارند كه اين تحريمها بايد از اين مرحله آغاز شود."

نيکولاس برنز به رابطه ميان "فناورى هاى پيشرفته غيرنظامى" و تحريم بانکی ايران اشاره ای نکرد, اما در حالی که به ادعای وی اولين گام تحريم ها بايد فناوری های مزبور را هدف بگيرد, وزير خزانهداری آمريکا در اجلاس وزرای دارايی گروهی از کشورها در نشست سالانهی بانک جهانی و صندوق بينالمللی پول در سنگاپور طرح تحريم مالی و بانکی ايران را ارائه داد.

در مجموع با توجه به تفاوت ديدگاهها در ميان کشورهای پنج باضافه يک بر سر تحريم ايران, و مواضع ماجراجويانه رژيم اسلامی و اصرارش بر خودداری از تعليق غنی سازی اورانيوم, همچنين ادامه برخوردهای دوگانه آمريکا که در لفظ از ديپلماسی و در عمل از اعمال مجازات ها پيروی می کند, مسير و چشم انداز بحران ناشی از پرونده هسته ای ايران همچنان مبهم است و حساسيت ها تا حدود زيادی متوجه دور دوم مذاکرات سخنگوی اتحاديه اروپا با علی لاريجانی است.

[golgol85]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Iran has called the west's bluff on the nuclear standoff

As the Iranian and American presidents offer their rival versions of international reality at the United Nations this week, it is worth recalling that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not the first Iranian leader to travel to New York to proclaim his country's right to make its own decisions about energy resources, to denounce imperialism, and to condemn a world order weighted in favour of a handful of powerful nations.
In this same month in 1951, Dr Mohammad Mossadeq convinced the UN that British efforts to regain control of the oil industry the Iranian government had just nationalised did not deserve the world body's support. Mossadeq won over the security council, and he won over the United States, which enjoyed the spectacle of this elderly, eccentric and eloquent man challenging the British empire. American reporters affectionately nicknamed him "Old Mossy".

How different is the scene at the UN today, with Bush castigating Iran for political suppression at home, for supporting terrorism abroad, and for pursuing nuclear weapons, while Ahmadinejad portrays the US as the leader of a group of nations which have hijacked international institutions in pursuit of their own narrow interests. Between these two moments on the East River lies a half century in which the US was transformed, in Iranian eyes, from the angel in international affairs that Mossadeq had imagined into the demon scourged by Ayatollah Khomeini and most of his successors.
"Old Mossy" hoped America would help Iran become truly independent. Instead, America joined Britain in removing him from power and ensconcing the Shah as an authoritarian ruler. Most Iranians, including opponents of the regime, think the US has never redeemed itself for that act, or for its later meddling in Iranian affairs. American intervention would reach a malign climax, they say, if the US were to attack Iranian nuclear installations. Just as Iranians believe the US has never made up for the wrong it perpetrated in 1953, so Americans believe the Islamic republic demonstrated, by its seizure of American diplomats in 1979, a deeply unreasonable and probably permanent hostility towards America. The two nations, in other words, bulk pathologically large in each other's vision, and that is the ultimate problem which makes an accommodation between them on nuclear matters, let alone a more general rapprochement, so difficult to achieve.

The drama which began three years ago when Britain, France and Germany undertook to bring Iran round on the nuclear issue has had its comic dimension, as European wiliness encountered Iranian guile, and was usually outmatched by it. But now comedy threatens to tip over into farce, and tragedy lies in wait. After the passing of many deadlines, the latest at the end of last month, the Iranians are still enriching uranium. They have so far suffered no consequences, and even if a very modest package of sanctions were to survive Russian and Chinese objections at the UN, it would not hurt the Iranians much, if at all.

The western bluff has been called. The Europeans have moved from making suspension a condition for talks to contriving formulas to allow talks to begin without it. As long as serious sanctions lay in the far future, the Europeans were ready to act as if they, and even the highly sceptical Russians and Chinese, would be prepared to take strong measures. But as soon as they become a real prospect, the excuses emerge, ranging from the lack of adequate inducements to the absence of conclusive proof of Iran's nuclear intentions and the danger of pushing the Tehran regime into too tight a corner. All have some substance, but nevertheless represent a retreat from previous positions.

In the unlikely event that strong sanctions were imposed, Iran would find it relatively easy to survive them, and they would play into the hands of those in the Iranian government, including Ahmadinejad, who may well believe that a good relationship with the west is a contradiction in terms - something that would sully the revolutionary purity of the republic. So there are indeed reasons for caution on sanctions. In any case the real sanction has been the prospect that if negotiations were to end in total failure, they would be followed, no doubt after a period in which economic measures would be shown to be ineffective, by American military action. The bunker-busters would go in and parts of Iran would be dug up and ploughed under by a bombing campaign, aimed both at destroying installations and killing scientists, which would set back Iran's nuclear programme by three or four years.

Yet even if the Bush administration was less weakened by Iraq than it is, the chances of it choosing this option are somewhat less than they may have seemed some months ago. There is no readiness in the country to accept another military enterprise, even if it "only" involved air action, and anyone ordering it would suffer grievous political damage. This would come not so much in the campaign itself, but with the inevitable retaliation by Iran in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The US government would be wide open to the charge of making a bad mess worse, and the charge would be true, something which it may now be beginning to grasp. It will not rule out the counter-proliferation option, and the American military will continue to plan for it on a contingency basis, but the Iranians are probably right to conclude that it is not a very immediate threat.

But it is in the nature of the relationship between Iran and the west that as one danger recedes, another advances. If the Iranian regime comes to believe that both the Europeans and the US are paper tigers, it will be both strengthened and emboldened. At home, the consequences may well be to quicken the pace of the regime's encroachments on the freedom and democracy the Iranian system still displays. Abroad, they could give a push to the sort of adventurism which would make war between Iran and the US a stronger possibility. The only answer is a Middle Eastern policy which stresses needs, rights and fairness more than threats and enemies. Easy generalities, but somewhere in that direction lies the solution, if there is one to be found.