EU-Iran nuclear talks ‘useful and constructive,’ Iranian envoy reports

Times of Israel Saeed Jalili hopes his meeting with Catherine Ashton will ‘bring the common points closer together’ 

EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton, left, speaks
 with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili during May talks in Baghdad 

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator on Wednesday reported progress in talks aimed at restarting negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, calling a meeting with European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton a day earlier “positive and fruitful.”

 Saeed Jalili offered few concrete details about Tuesday’s meeting with Ashton in Istanbul, but said the two had assessed some “common points” reached by technical teams looking into the issue and had discussed “what can be done for a new cooperation.”

 “We discussed common points found by the experts and technical teams … so that they may be brought closer together and that a framework for future talks can be drawn,” Jalili said. “We hope (our) talks can help bring the common points closer together.” Earlier, the EU released a brief statement saying the talks that ended early Wednesday were “useful and constructive” and “an important opportunity to stress once again to Iran the urgent need to make progress.”

The EU said Ashton would brief representatives of the US and five other world powers next week in New York about her efforts to restart negotiations that fizzled in June. “We are awaiting the result of the six powers’ assessment,” Jalili said. Efforts for a breakthrough on restarting talks over Tehran’s nuclear program have gained new urgency with fear that the failure of negotiations could prompt Israel to make good on a threat to attack Iran’s nuclear installations. Iran denies it is making nuclear weapons.

On Monday, its nuclear chief, Fereydoun Abbasi, said that “terrorists and saboteurs” might have infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency in an effort to derail his nation’s atomic program.

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Despite, though likely because, Iran is ready to restart negotiations with the so-called P5+1 group (the five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) over its civilian nuclear program, belligerent rhetoric and sharply-worded political attacks from Israel and the United States have escalated.

Indeed, as investigative journalist Robert Parry pointed out on the Consortium News web site, arch neocon Senator Joseph Lieberman "is leading a group of nearly one-third of the U.S. Senate urging that the red line on war with Iran be shifted from building a nuclear weapon to the vague notion of Iran having the 'capability' to build one."

"In other words," Parry warned, "the next preemptive war could be launched not against Iran for actually building a bomb or even trying to build a bomb but rather for simply having the skills that theoretically could be used sometime in the future to build a bomb. The 'red line' has been moved from some possible future development to arguably what already exists."

Last week Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili wrote European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, reiterating that the Islamic Republic's willingness to return to the negotiating table "is tied to the P5+1's constructive approach to Iran's initiatives," Press TV reported.

In that letter, Iran voiced their "readiness for dialogue on a spectrum of various issues which can provide ground for constructive and forward-looking cooperation," and that talks should be approached "on step-by-step principles and reciprocity."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, flanked by Ashton at a Friday press conference that was pure Kabuki theater said "We think this is an important step, and we welcome the letter," The Washington Post reported.

"I'm cautious and I'm optimistic at the same time for this," Ashton told reporters after a gabfest with Clinton at the State Department.

"It also demonstrates the importance of the twin-track approach," Ashton told The New York Times, "referring to the international effort to intensify sanctions while leaving the door open for a diplomatic resolution of concerns about the possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons."

In essence what Ashton is saying is: We have a gun pointed at your head and can pull the trigger at any time; better to capitulate now and give up your right to enrich uranium for your civilian program rather than run the risk of war.

Undeterred by implicit Western threats, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi "has reiterated Tehran's determination to continue with its peaceful nuclear program, insisting on the nation's willingness to even deal with 'the worst-case scenario'," Press TV reported Sunday.

Speaking at a news conference Salehi asserted, "Since we believe that we are right, we do not have the slightest doubt in the pursuit of our nuclear program. Therefore, we plan to move ahead with vigor and confidence and we do not take much heed of [the West's] propaganda warfare. Even in the worse-case scenario, we remain prepared."