Initial discussions with Iran look promising

GENEVA — U.S. diplomats hadn’t expected much more than an initial contact from today’s meeting between Iran, and the group of 5 + 1, which consists of the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.

By that standard, the meeting has to be considered a success. The key U.S. demand was that Iran agree to completely open access for experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit a newly discovered uranium enrichment site near Qom, an important Iranian religious center.

The Iranians have agreed to that in principle, and say they will send an invitation to the inspectors within the next few weeks.

More importantly, the Iranians have also agreed to a second meeting before the end of October, in which they have agreed to work out a structure for opening a dialogue on security and nuclear non-proliferation issues.

In exchange, it was agreed that Iran would be provided with sufficient enriched uranium to be able to continue to run a small nuclear reactor used to produce radioactive isotopes for medical purposes. The isotopes have a half life, which decays so quickly that it makes sense to manufacture them on the spot where they are likely to be used.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Bill Burns, met informally for 45 minutes with his Iranian counterpart, Sayyid Jalili, in a small room adjacent to the main conference room. U.S. diplomats said that the free flowing discussions had lasted seven and a half hours.

European foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Jalili both gave press conferences. The U.S. stayed off camera. Solana told reporters that he thought the Iranians realized that they were facing a situation that was different from previous encounters.

A key U.S. demand is that Iran should agree to open inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the clandestine uranium enrichment plant recently identified near Qom. The Iranians have accepted in principle to let investigators see the plant within the next few weeks, and a U.S. senior diplomat said that IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei is expected to be in Tehran this weekend to work out details.

Another issue that had concerned the Iranians is a small nuclear reactor that is used to produce radioactive isotopes for medical research. The reactor, which is under IAEA supervision, will run out of fuel in the next 18 months. The U.S. and Russia have proposed that Iran provide some of its lightly enriched uranium, which the Russians can further enrich to 19.75 percent, and then ship back to Iran for use under IAEA supervision. Everyone seems on board for that solution, which will also reduce the amount of lightly enriched uranium that Iran has already stockpiled. The IAEA will have a meeting in Vienna on Oct. 18 to work out details.

As for the private side bar discussion between the U.S. and Iran, senior U.S. diplomats here said that it was significant that Iran, which had refused to discuss its nuclear program earlier, is now willing to open a dialogue with the U.S. No one expects it to be easy, and the U.S. is emphasizing that the discussions will not be open ended.

Speaking to reporters, here, Sayid Jalili said that Iran also feels that there needs to be more international cooperation to guarantee world security. Jalili pointed out that the major nuclear powers have done little to reduce their own nuclear stockpiles, and he said that other nations had remained quiet when threats had been made about taking military action against Iran’s nuclear installations.

The bottom line, Jalili indicated, is that no countries should have nuclear weapons, and all countries should have access to nuclear power for peaceful use. That may be an unrealistic goal, but Jalili is clearly arguing that for a dialogue to succeed, and both sides will have to be ready to make concessions.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/diplomacy/091001/initial-discussions-iran-look-promising