Iran moved on Sunday to lessen its international isolation by offering to reopen talks about its nuclear programme with the European Union.
The proposal, by Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, was clearly designed to ease diplomatic pressures that had been mounting since a call by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to ”wipe Israel off the map”. However, the move did not appear to represent a significant shift in Iran’s position on its nuclear programme. It continued to insist yesterday on its determination to pursue a ”peaceful” nuclear programme.
Larijani’s call for renewed talks came in a letter addressed to the foreign ministers of the EU trio of Britain, France and Germany, who had been spearheading long-running negotiations before they were suspended in August after Iran resumed uranium conversion. Quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency, the letter ”assessed the past exchanges and welcomed rational and constructive negotiations in the framework of international regulations”.
The olive branch appeared to be part of a concerted effort to head off the possibility of Iran being referred to the UN security council at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency this month.
On Sunday, Iran announced it had allowed IAEA inspectors to tour the Parchin military complex, 32km south of Tehran. The Bush administration, which suspects Iran of trying to develop an atomic bomb, has claimed Parchin has been used to develop high explosives compatible with nuclear weapons.
In a clear sign of Iran’s increasingly lonely international status, the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has cancelled a visit to Tehran scheduled for next week.
Iran’s need to address its growing isolation will be highlighted at a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, at which the EU’s policy of engagement with Tehran will be reviewed. The meeting is expected condemn Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel tirade and demand Iran lift ad hoc trade sanctions against Britain. The embargo was imposed last month in protest at Britain’s stand against Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Italian foreign ministry on Sunday responded to accusations by its Iranian counterpart that Italy was trying to isolate Iran after pro-Israel demonstrations in Rome and other cities. ”No one wants to isolate Iran,” an Italian foreign ministry spokesperson said. ”On the contrary, we all hope that Tehran, adopting responsible conduct, wants to play a role of stabilisation. But it is Iran which inevitably isolates itself the moment it denies to exist another people and another state.”
Ahmadinejad’s comments, together with a need to act ahead of Monday’s EU meeting, had acted as a ”catalyst” to Sunday’s conciliatory move, said a Tehran-based political analyst.
”Iran has the lower hand now,” the analyst said. ”These remarks were definitely not helpful… Quite apart from giving Israel an opportunity to attack and launch a propaganda offensive, they put Iran in a vulnerable position. Now, in any conversation in which Iran tries to defend its goodwill and honest nature, the other side can say, your president called for the annihilation of Israel, a member of the UN. How do you expect us to trust you?” – Guardian Unlimited Â