Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A couple of under-the-radar reports that will get more media attention in the coming days. Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has been signaling his openness to direct talks with the U.S. since his election. US, EU See New Hope for Iran Nuclear Talks - ABC News. Bloomberg reports, Rouhani Says Iran Plans to Restart Nuclear Talks in NY:
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said his government plans to restart nuclear talks with world powers in New York, where he will attend the United Nations General Assembly this month.
The “serious talks” should help lead to a “win-win” final outcome in the dispute over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, Rouhani said in an interview on Iranian state-run television [last week]. The negotiations will involve the International Atomic Energy Agency and the so-called P5+1 group, made up of the five permanent UN Security Council members in addition to Germany, he said.
“The nuclear issue will be resolved soon if the other side is serious,” he said. “The final result should be a win-win. We are ready for it.”
His comments on the talks came a day after the UN’s atomic watchdog said Iran was not cooperating with IAEA inspectors.
“Given the nature and extent of credible information available to the agency about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program, it remains essential and urgent for Iran to engage with us on the substance of our concerns,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said.
* * *
Rohani plans a six-day visit to New York starting Sept. 22. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton plans to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York, the EU said.
President Obama told ABC News he and new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani have exchanged letters about the situation in Syria, and that diplomacy backed by military threat is a model for negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions. Obama: Syria Deal Could Influence Iran Nuclear Talks:
In a U.S. television interview broadcast Sunday, Obama said Iran should
avoid thinking the United States would not launch a military strike in
response to Tehran's nuclear program just because it has not attacked
Syria.
He said Iranian leaders understand the U.S. concern about a potential
nuclear-armed Iran "is a far larger issue" for the United States than
Syria's chemical weapons.
Obama told ABC News "the threat against ... Israel that a nuclear Iran
poses is much closer to our core interests," adding that "a nuclear arms
race in the region" would be "profoundly destabilizing."
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking Sunday in Jerusalem, said
the recent U.S.-Russian agreement on Syria's chemical weapons also
serves as a "marker" for the international community as it deals with
Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.
"The threat of force is real and the Assad regime and all those taking
part need to understand that President Obama and the United States are
committed to achieve this goal. We cannot have hollow words in the
conduct of international affairs because that affects all other issues,
whether Iran or North Korea or any other," said Kerry.
The Times of Israel reports, Putin to visit Iran for first time in six years:
Vladimir Putin has accepted an Iranian invitation to visit the country and meet with newly elected President Hasan Rouhani, a spokesman for the Russian president confirmed. The visit to Tehran would be Putin’s first since 2007.
“Putin has been invited to Iran, and he will certainly take advantage of this kind invitation,” the Interfax news agency quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday. “The dates of the visit will be agreed upon through diplomatic channels.”
The announcement came on the heels of a report that Russia had agreed to sell to Iran the advanced S-300 air defense system and construct a new nuclear reactor at the Bushehr site.
Putin met with Rouhani on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Friday. During the meeting, Rouhani extended an invitation to Putin, who accepted, the Iranian semi-official Fars news agency reported.
* * *
Putin’s spokesman on Wednesday denied the report that the Kremlin had decided to sign a new deal to deliver the air-defense missile systems to Iran.
* * *
During his meeting Friday with Rouhani, Putin praised Iran as a “good neighbor” to his country.
“We know how much in international affairs is revolving around the Iranian nuclear problem, but we in Russia know something else, too: that Iran is our neighbor, a good neighbor,” AFP quoted Putin as saying. “We do not choose our neighbors.”
The Russian leader affirmed that “Iran, as any other state, has the right for peaceful use of atomic energy, including enrichment.”
Rouhani, in turn, called for new steps toward resolving his country’s longstanding nuclear standoff with the West. The US and its allies believe that Iran is striving for a nuclear weapons capability while Tehran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful in nature.
“Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, we want the swiftest solution to it within international norms,” Rouhani told Putin, according to Reuters. “Russia in the past has taken important steps in this sphere and now is the best opportunity for new steps from your side.”
“I declare that only if there is political will, if there is mutual respect and mutual interest, and only if the rights of Iran’s people are ensured, can we guarantee the peaceful character of Iran’s nuclear program,” he reportedly added.
Rouhani is widely perceived as being more moderate than his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to a report last week in The Los Angeles Times, the US and Iran are on the cusp of resuming direct talks for the first time in years. A meeting between officials of the two countries would likely take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 24, the report said.
Of course, our Neocon war monger John McCain and his puppet boy, Little Lindsey Graham, will be given face time by the Beltway media villagers to denounce any bilateral talks with Iran. Johnny may even sing "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" again. Never has one man been so wrong so often, and yet his political base, the Beltway media villagers, keep sitting at his feet for his words of wisdom (sic). They are pathetic.
If you want to make peace you don't talk to your friends, you must talk to your enemy.
Posted by: Frances Perkins | September 15, 2013 at 08:06 PM