Iran came under the strongest pressure in three years to renounce its nuclear programmes on Thursday night when the five permanent United Nations Security Council members and Germany agreed to reward Tehran if it accepted terms for negotiations, but to move towards isolating the country and international sanctions if it did not.
Speaking after a meeting of foreign ministers from the US, Russia, Europe, and China in Vienna on Thursday night, Margaret Beckett, the British Foreign Secretary, said: ”We have agreed a set of far-reaching proposals. We believe they offer Iran the chance to reach a negotiated agreement based on cooperation … We have also agreed that if Iran decides not to engage in negotiation, further steps would have to be taken in the Security Council.”
The accord between the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and France, plus Germany, came after months of wrangling, mainly between the US and Russia over how and whether to punish Iran for its perceived nuclear recalcitrance.
The agreement was preceded by Washington’s U-turn 24 hours earlier, offering for the first time in almost 30 years to engage in diplomatic dialogue with the Iranian regime. US President George Bush said on Thursday that if Iran still refused to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, the key condition for the proposed resumption of negotiations, the US had laid ”the groundwork for an effective international response” in the form of sanctions imposed by the Security Council.
Beckett said the Iranian dispute would be taken off the Security Council agenda if Tehran agreed to reopen negotiations on the international community’s terms, freezing its uranium enrichment activities and reopening its nuclear facilities to inspections by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran insists that its uranium enrichment advances are ”irreversible”. While Tehran says the programme is the foundation for a legitimate civil nuclear energy programme, the US and Europe say it is also Iran’s route to a nuclear bomb.
After nine months of Iran setting the pace in the three-year dispute and appearing to have the upper hand, the US offer of talks on Wednesday and Thursday night’s agreement have tipped the scales the other way.
Should the Iranians balk at the ambitious plan offering trade, economic, political and security concessions, coupled with US diplomatic engagement, Washington will be in a strong position to demand that the economic sanctions screw on Iran be tightened.
The Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on THursday that Tehran would be happy to negotiate with Washington but insisted Iran would not freeze its uranium enrichment activities. – Guardian Unlimited Â