Iran Live: Nuclear Talks Resume in Kazakhstan
Friday, April 5, 2013 at 10:36Iran Analysis: 5-Point Beginner's Guide to Today's Nuclear Talks
Iran Feature: Talking Tough --- How the US and Tehran Mirror Each Other's Rhetoric
Thursday's Iran Live: Tehran's Positive Signals for Nuclear Talks
1430 GMT:Nuclear Watch. Joanna Paraszczuk surveys reaction in the Iranian press to today's talks in Kazakhstan....
ISNA gave a neutral report on Friday afternoon, noting that Iran's nuclear negotiating team had a new member, Mehdi Safari, the former ambassador to China.
ISNA also reported that the spokesman for the lead negotiator of the 5+1 Powers, Catherine Ashton, said they were not going to put any new offers on the table in this round of talks, and that Tehran needed to prove its nuclear programne had no military dimension.
Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, focused on Iran's position. It repeated comments by Ali Bagheri, Iran's deputy negotiators, that Tehran had come up with specific recommendations for cooperation with the 5+1, and that those proposals had been presented in Moscow last June.
Iran believed the proposals were a "confidence building step, i.e. actions that both sides have to agree to do as part of a comprehensive solution", Bagheri said.
Hardline Mashregh News, meanwhile, criticised comments by Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann as "strange".
Mashregh noted that Mann had tried to respond to an Iranian journalist's question about why Europe had not made "the slightest effort to stop Israel's nuclear activities", and why the 5+1 were talking about Iran's nuclear program and not West Jerusalem's.
The journalist added that world powers ignored the fact that two-thirds of non-aligned nations supported Iran's nuclear programme.
Mann responded that the "discussions about resolving Iran's nuclear programme must be completed and it is not possible to set a deadline for that", according to Mashregh.
1250 GMT:Nuclear Watch. US and European officials, briefing journalists after the first plenary session in today's nuclear talks, have damned Iran for failing to engage the proposals of the 5+1 Powers and for putting forth vague ideas that revert back to discussions last June.
“We are somewhat puzzled by the Iranians’ characterisation of what they presented,” one official said after a three-hour meeting.
The official said the Iranian team offered “some interesting, but not fully explained, general comments on our ideas”.
Meanwhile, Tehran's presentation of its proposals were "mainly a reworking of what they said in Moscow" in last spring's negotiations.
Perhaps unwittingly, the Iranian delegation is reinforcing that impression of little change from their presentation in June, when talks stalemated and did not resume for eight months. Press TV summarises:
Undersecretary of Iran Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Baqeri said Iran has offered the group “clear proposals to launch a new round of cooperation” between the two sides.
“The proposals were presented using the framework that was outlined [during a previous round of talks] in Moscow,” he added.
The Western official framed the next session as an opportunity for the Iranians to make amends: “We have insisted on a second plenary this afternoon…so that they can respond in the kind of detail that will enable us to make progress."
1116 GMT:Nuclear Watch. So far our prediction of no advance in the nuclear talks in Kazakhstan, with each side expecting the other to meet its proposals, is holding up --- the BBC's James Reynolds reports:
Western diplomat at #Iran nuke talks : "There has not yet been a clear and concrete response to the E3+3's Almaty I proposal."
— James Reynolds (@JamesEReynolds) April 5, 2013
Western diplomat : Iran's proposal "was mainly a reworking of what they said in Moscow [June 2012]" #Iran nuke talks.
— James Reynolds (@JamesEReynolds) April 5, 2013
at moment, seems that P5+1 and #Iran each have separate proposals on table - with little immediate overlap.
— James Reynolds (@JamesEReynolds) April 5, 2013
1046 GMT:Your Friday Prayers Update. Taking his turn at the podium today, Mohammad Emami Kashani has stated that the presidential elections in June are “very important” and called for an “epic show of unity and cohesion.”
Moreover, Kashani claims that a high-turnout in the election will prove the Western sanctions useless, while those who do not participate will have “sinned against piety and politics.”
1000 GMT:Oil Watch. Iran offered to sell crude oil to Indonesia yesterday according to Dahlan Iskan, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises.
Dahlan, who last month stated Indonesia would continue to cooperate with Iran on trade issues, referred the issue to state oil firm Pertamina, which has the authority to respond to the offer.
0955 GMT:Economy Watch. The Central Bank points to continued issues over money supply in Iran, reporting that it increased 32% in the past year.
The expanded supply has been blamed for Iran's currency problems and inflation, which officially exceeds 32% but is widely believed to be far higher.
0951 GMT:Nuclear Watch. Ben Offiler writes....
As negotiations about Iran’s nuclear programme open today in Almaty in Kazakhstan, Press TV is putting forth an optimistic tone about their prospects.
The State outlet quotes United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s hope for “very meaningful progress” and cites the assessment by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich that "positions, considerations and approaches have been exchanged in depth and at a good professional level, which is encouraging."
Press TV’s positive spin complements an article published yesterday, which reported Michael Mann, the spokesman for the European Union, as saying that the 5+1 Powers “want to give a clear and concrete response to [Iran’s] proposal, and a positive response.”
More importantly, from Tehran’s perspective, was this comment by Mann: “Let’s be absolutely clear. Nobody is denying the right for Iran or any other country to have nuclear technology for medical purposes or energy purposes.”
0950 GMT:Rafsanjani Watch. Advisor Ali Askari has confirmed the strategy of the camp of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani for June's Presidential election.
Askari aaid Rafsanjani will not run but his ally Hassan Rohani --- member of the Expediency Council and head of the Center for Strategic Researach --- can play the role "as a new Hashemi".
Rohani has already declared his candidacy.
0945 GMT:Foreign Affairs Watch (British Edition). In another sign of the regime's conciliatory moves towards Britain, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar has slammed the November 2011 assault on the British Embassy, which led to the suspension of relations between the two countries.
Bahonar demanded that those in the crowd who invaded the grounds and ransacked the buildings face legal prosecution.
Other high-level officials have condemned the raid in recent weeks, raising speculation over what Tehran is hoping to get out of London amid nuclear talks and regional issues.
Bahonar, who is standing for President, also declared that Iran's economic problems will be solved within the next 12 to 18 months through control of the money supply.
0942 GMT:Oil Watch. India’s Ministry of Finance has approved a 20-billion rupee ($364 million) fund to cover the costs of reinsurance for local refineries that import and process Iranian crude oil.
Due to the Western sanctions, international insurance companies no longer offer reinsurance for deals with Iran, which in recent weeks has made Indian insurers reluctant to renew their contracts with refineries importing Iranian oil.
After a break of eight months, the two sides met in the Kazakh capital Almaty in February. There was enough of an opening for further discussion that technical talks were held in Turkey in mid-March, with the agreement to gather today and tomorrow to try and advance toward a resolution.
The core issue is Iran's enrichment of 20% uranium. The US and European allies insist may be further developed to military use and want a suspension of the process. The Iranians are seeking recogniton of their right to enrich --- for example, to 5% --- a guaranteed supply of 20% uranium for civilian use, and removal of US and European sanctions that have been imposed in recent years.
On the eve of the talks, Iranian officials have said there can be progress if the US is "honest" in its approach. US and European counterparts have said that the advance will occur if Iran meets the proposals put by the 5+1.
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