http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/98895-iran-accepts-51-request-for-holding-expert-meetings
http://rt.com/business/news/japan-iran-oil-insurance-978/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9339800/Iran-gives-first-detailed-response-to-plan-drawn-up-to-break-nuclear-impasse.html
http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/98857-iran-clarifies-proposals-in-constructive-talks-in-moscow-
| Iran, 5+1 agree to hold expert talks in Istanbul on July 3 |
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EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represented the major powers in the talks, also told a press conference that she would remain in contact with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.
Ashton also said that Helga Schmid, the deputy secretary general for political affairs of the European External Action Service, and Jalili’s deputy, Ali Baqeri, will maintain contact.
Ashton said that during the talks in Moscow, the major powers wanted Iran to agree to stop enriching uranium to a purity level of 20 percent.
The agreement to hold expert talks in Istanbul was made after two days of intensive talks between negotiators from the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) and the Iranian delegation.
The negotiations were a continuation of talks that were held in Istanbul on April 14 and in Baghdad on May 23 and 24.
After the Baghdad talks, Schmid and Baqeri were tasked with drawing up an agenda for the Moscow talks, and experts from the two sides were supposed to hold meetings to make the necessary preparations.
However, the major powers reneged on the agreements made during the Baghdad talks and preliminary meetings were not held.
After the first day of the talks, Baqeri told reporters that Iran had elaborated on the proposals presented in Baghdad during the negotiations.
He also described the meetings as “serious” and “constructive”, adding that the Iranian negotiators had expressed their views on the proposals presented by the six major powers.
The main point of Iran’s package of proposals is that the negotiating countries must recognize Iran’s right to enrichment under the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty).
According to Reuters, the six major powers have also demanded that Iran stop producing higher-grade uranium, ship any stockpiles of 20 percent enriched uranium out of the country, and close down the Fordo underground enrichment facility.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/19/iran-nuclear-talks-downgraded
Iran nuclear talks downgraded
Contact will proceed between technical experts and bureaucrats after high-level diplomacy fails to bridge differences
Lady Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said there were 'significant gaps between the substance of the two positions'. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
High-level negotiations between Iran and six world powers were suspended after two days of talks in Moscow failed to bridge differences over the future of Iran's nuclear programme.
Contacts will now be downgraded to the level of experts from each country and bureaucrats from Brussels and Tehran. However, it was unclear how such technical discussion could help heal a substantial political rift.
"We set out our respective positions in what were detailed, tough and frank exchanges," said the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton. "However, it remains clear that there are significant gaps between the substance of the two positions."
"The choice is Iran's," she added. "We expect Iran to decide whether it is willing to make diplomacy work, to focus on reaching agreement on concrete confidence-building steps, and to address the concerns of the international community."
The plan is for technical experts from both sides to meet in Istanbul on 3 July, to "increase the understanding" of the Iranian positions. After that there would be contacts between deputy negotiators from Iran and Ashton's office, and then between Ashton and the chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, to decide whether it was worth resuming talks between Tehran and the six negotiating powers – the UK, US, France, Germany, China and Russia.
Officials from all sides insisted that downgrading the talks did not amount to a total breakdown of diplomacy, well aware that such a declaration could bring closer an Israeli military attack on Iranian nuclear sites. The decision to hold another technical meeting, made at the eleventh hour of the Moscow talks, was said by some to be a face-saving device to avoid pronouncing the talks dead on the Russian government's watch.
"They want the process to die some place else," one participant said.
Ashton denied that the planned low-level contacts amounted to talks for talks' sake, saying Iran had "engaged for the first time in the substance" of the proposal it was being offered, but she admitted there was "a very, very long way to go".
The foreign secretary, William Hague, issued a statement regretting "that Iran was not prepared to negotiate seriously on specific concerns of the international community – in particular regarding 20% enrichment."
"This is a missed opportunity to address the serious concerns of the international community," Hague said.
Speaking to the press after the Moscow talks, Jalili portrayed the agreement to hold expert meetings as an Iranian success. Prior to Moscow, Iran had said it wanted such technical discussions but Ashton's office had rejected the call saying it was time to talk about the substance of Iran's nuclear programme and its future.
In the runup to this week's talks, Iranian negotiators clarified their position and presented a response to a compromise offer by the six-nation group. However, the clarity in comparison with the last round in Baghdad simply served to emphasise the gulf between the two sides.
"We are hopeful that the technical meeting … can reach acceptable conclusions and give proposals so that Ms Ashton and I can reach a decision regarding the time and place for the next negotiations," Jalili said.
The six powers' proposition was for Iran to stop making 20%-enriched uranium, seen as the most serious proliferation threat, shut down the underground plant, and transfer its stockpile out of the country under international monitoring. In return for these concessions, summarised as "stop, shut and ship", Iran would get fabricated fuel plates for a medical research reactor, help with nuclear safety, and spare parts for commercial airliners.
Iranian negotiators rejected the deal as unacceptable, asking instead for international recognition of its right to enrich uranium in principle, and relief from sanctions, in return for suspension of 20% enrichment and co-operation with an investigation by UN inspectors into evidence of a past weapons programme.
The Moscow talks hit a low point when Jalili and his delegation arrived at the hotel venue some 90 minutes after the arranged time and asked for the planned plenary session to be put back two hours. Ashton refused to agree to political and legal expert groups, threatening at one point to end the contacts entirely, western diplomats at the talks said. However, by agreeing to meeting between nuclear experts, they said any ambiguity in the various proposals on the table can be removed, and the door left open to a resumption of full talks at a later date.
The failure to make progress in the talks in Moscow makes Israeli military action more likely, but far from inevitable.
"It's in the interests of both sides to keep talks going. Neither has any interest in declaring the death of diplomacy, especially when there is a looming threat of an Israeli strike," said Michael Herzog, a retired Israeli general.
"The Israeli reaction will be negative. Israel will say the result highlights the fact the parties are unable to continue on a high level. The differences cannot be resolved on a technical level. Israel will declare that diplomacy is failing and will probably demand the international community to set a timetable and just not let talks go and on."
Daryl Kimball, the head of the Arms Control Association in Washington insisted that Moscow should not be the end of the road for diplomacy.
"As tough as the P5+1 talks have been, diplomacy remains the best option to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran," Kimball said. "There is still time and an opportunity for diplomacy, but it is essential to reach a deal to prevent that 20% enriched uranium stockpile from growing and soon."
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Emailhttp://rt.com/business/news/japan-iran-oil-insurance-978/
Japan pushes for law to secure Iranian oil supply
Published: 16 June, 2012, 15:49
Edited: 18 June, 2012, 15:27
Edited: 18 June, 2012, 15:27
Reuters / Tim Chong
Japan’s lower house passed a bill on Friday to provide government guarantees to tankers carrying Iranian crude, which is to replace commercial insurance by Europeans after the EU’s oil sanctions kick in.
The bill is yet to be voted on by the upper house, but the opposition parties controlling it already indicated their support for the legislation. The bill may be signed into law by month’s end and before the European Union’s sanctions against Iranian oil industry are put in force on July 1.
The Japanese government plans to provide coverage of up to US$7.6 billion for each tanker carrying Iranian crude bound for Japan in the event of accidents. It is the first time Tokyo has offered guarantees on marine shipments, an official in the country’s Transport Ministry, who helped draft the bill, told Reuters.
The guarantee is needed to continue traffic after European insurers are banned from serving Iranian oil trade. The ban is part of the sanctions package the EU has issued to put economic pressure on Tehran and make it stop enrichment of uranium. Western countries suspect that Iran is hoarding the material to create a nuclear weapon, while Iran insists that it needs it as fuel for its civilian nuclear program.
Japan is the first of major buyers of Iranian crude not to follow the US’ and EU’s example of stopping all fuel imports from Iran. Similar moves by China, India, South Korea and South Africa may well follow.
Japan is among the countries which reduced crude imports from Iran and thus won a waiver from the US, which is issuing sanctions against Iran’s trade partners. However, Tokyo is reluctant to make further cuts, especially since its own nuclear energy industry was crippled by the Fukushima power plant disaster and the safety checks it prompted.
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http://www.rt.com/news/syria-un-mission-spy-mood-187/
Syria UN mission headed by spy? (Op-Ed)
Published: 19 June, 2012, 16:13
The UN mission chief in Syria Major General Robert Mood (AFP Photo / Louai Beshara)
A Jordanian UN observer in Syria says the head of the United Nations Surveillance Mission (UNSMIS) in the country is a spy. The monitor claims General Robert Mood is gathering critical coordinates and visiting military bases for his own purposes.
The claims have appeared in Syrian state media, indicating that security circles have signaled their consent to publication in Damascus.
Sources say Norwegian General Mood took his convoy to the city of Tartus last Friday, where no violence was reported. The group visited no less than four military installations of the Syrian Army there without any sanction through the General’s UNSMIS mandate.
Moreover, the same Friday the convoy went to the Rastan area, where it did not drive close to the fighting zone, but went straight to the Syrian Army’s military installation, again without any apparent connection to Mood’s mandate.
Syrians suspect that geographical data is being collected for purposes not related to UNSMIS – perhaps collateral data to already existing files. Syrian officials suspect furthermore that Mood might be looking for locations where Syrian authorities are keeping prisoners of war.
All in all, many analysts are recalling questionable UN observer behavior in the times of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
As to prisoners of foreign origin in official Syrian custody, UN observers are trying to find and supply exact coordinates.
It seems all the German prisoners are German citizens, including foreign-born German citizens. All are employed by a German private security company based in Stuttgart.
The Germans were deployed to Libya five months ago and captured north of the Syrian port of Tartus around two weeks ago. They were offloading weapons and ammunition from a commercial vessel waiting in international waters using two speed boats. Syrian analysts are convinced that the German government did not pursue this operation on its own, but was acting on behalf of Washington – and that the German opposition would have done the same, had they been under that kind of pressure.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9339800/Iran-gives-first-detailed-response-to-plan-drawn-up-to-break-nuclear-impasse.html
Saeed Jalili, Iran's senior representative, has often declined to reply to proposals over Iran's nuclear programme. Today, however, he delivered a presentation setting out his government's view.
Although far from a breakthrough, his answers, given during a meeting in Moscow, were the first time his interlocutors had received a full reply.
The plan was drawn up by the "P5 plus 1", a contact group dealing with Iran on the nuclear issue consisting of the Security Council's five permanent members – America, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany.
In the words of one source close to the talks, it urges Iran to "stop, ship and shut", namely to stop enriching uranium to 20 per cent purity, ship its stockpile of this material out of the country and shut a previously secret nuclear plant at Fordow.
Uranium enriched to this level is close to the weapons-grade material needed for a nuclear bomb, although Iran says the only aim is to fuel a civilian research reactor in Tehran.
Earlier, a statement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran "will not carry out enrichment to that level" if the "P5 plus 1" were to provide the fuel for the reactor – something they have previously offered.
"Even today, if they give us the guarantee that they will supply 20 per cent fuel for our reactors, there will be no problem," added Mr Ahmadinejad.
Mr Jalili was not as conciliatory as his president however. Michael Mann, spokesman for the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, said Iran had "engaged in detail, but not in the way we would like them to". The talks, he added, had been "intense and tough".
Another diplomat said that Iran had been "very overt today – more than they've ever been – in discussing the 20 per cent in a detailed and frank way."
In many rounds of previous talks, Iran has often declined to respond to proposals. The fact that a reply was forthcoming yesterday marks a small but possibly significant move.
However, there was no detailed negotiation: Iran and the "P5 plus 1" simply laid out their respective positions. Mr Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, also gave what a diplomat described as "the traditional lengthy rehearsal of past grievances," dwelling on episodes stretching back to 1968.
His response is understood to have posed a series of questions about the proposal. Iran wants formal recognition of its "right" to enrich uranium and the lifting of all sanctions. However, six UN resolutions call on Iran to halt enrichment, a process that could be used to make the essential material for a nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, a European Union oil embargo will come into full effect on July 1 – and postponing or lifting this threat was not discussed.
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MOSCOW - Iran elaborated on its five-point package of proposals during a new round of talks with the six major powers in Moscow on Monday.
The talks between Tehran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany), which are being held at Golden Ring Hotel, are scheduled to continue Tuesday.
The negotiations are a continuation of talks that were held in Istanbul on April 14 and in Baghdad on May 23 and 24.
Saeed Jalili, who is the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, is leading the Iranian delegation in the negotiations, and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton represents the 5+1 group in the talks.
After the sessions of the first day of the talks concluded, SNSC Deputy Secretary Ali Baqeri told reporters in Moscow that Iran had elaborated on the proposals presented in Baghdad during the negotiations.
He described the meetings as “serious” and “constructive”, adding that the Iranian negotiators had expressed their views on the proposals presented by the six major powers.
The Persian service of the Mehr News Agency published the main points of Iran’s package of proposals on Monday, which are as follows:
(1) Negotiations must be purposeful. The starting point and the end point of the talks must be made clear. Therefore, it is necessary that a framework be developed for talks and their principles and purposes be determined.
(2) Negotiations must be effective and must be based on a step-by-step approach.
(3) The framework of talks should be determined, and it must be made clear when and how the talks will end and what path should be taken.
(4) and (5) The negotiating countries must recognize Iran’s right to enrichment under the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty). Iran’s nuclear rights should not be reduced and no obligations beyond the NPT should be imposed on it. If these points are clarified, the legal status of the United Nations Security Council sanctions can be determined.
The UN Security Council has approved four rounds of sanctions on Iran in order to pressure the country over its nuclear program.
In his remarks, Baqeri said that the implementation of Iran’s proposals would help advance the negotiations.
Iran emphasized its right to enrichment during the talks and mentioned the measures that the 5+1 group must take to help build confidence and enhance cooperation in nuclear and non-nuclear fields, he stated.
The Iranian negotiators also emphasized that according to the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN Charter, the referral of Iran’s nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council was “illegal”, Baqeri added.
Ashton thanked Iran for expressing its views in the talks and said that the 5+1 group would announce its response to Tehran’s proposals on the second day of the talks.
EU foreign policy spokesman says calm atmosphere prevailed in talks
European Union foreign policy spokesman Michael Mann told reporters on Monday that a “calm” atmosphere had prevailed in the talks and that both sides were interacting easily, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported.
Commenting on the oil embargo that the European Union has imposed on Iran, Mann said that the EU had made no decision to delay the implementation of the embargo.
The European Union formally imposed an oil embargo on Iran and agreed to a freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of Iran on January 23, but existing contracts will be honored until July 1.
Iran pursuing three-step approach at Moscow talks
The Mehr News Agency quoted an Iranian diplomat in Moscow, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying on Monday that Iran was pursuing a three-step approach during the talks.
According to the official, the first step is “to criticize the 5+1 group for not using opportunities for a month since the Baghdad talks and not arranging meetings between deputies.”
The second step is “to enter serious and content-based talks about what the 5+1 is seeking to negotiate,” he said, adding that the third step is “to explain the five points that Iran had proposed in Baghdad in a clearer way so that the 5+1 group’s commitment to engage in serious negotiations on these points will be put to the test.”
In addition, the Iranian diplomat stated, “Iran has prepared clear and well-documented responses, based on the NPT, to the West’s proposals.”
Before the talks, Jalili said that the Moscow talks would show if the 5+1 group wants to see Iran making progress.
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