Former Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki has reportedly delivered a stinging assessment of Irans nuclear negotiating team. He cast Irans negotiators, in comments reported by Iranian news site Baztab, as amateurish and given to posturing, more obsessed with what city to hold nuclear talks, than in making diplomatic progress that could help relieve economic hardship suffered by the Iranian people.Is the chief [goal]obtaining results and solving the problem of 75 million Iraniansor globe-trotting and entering third-party countries? Baztab cited Mottaki, who served as Irans foreign minister from 2005-2010.
Mottakis reported comments were removed fromBaztabswebsite on Wednesday, but areavailable on another Persian language site.They appear to respond in part to information in arecent Back Channel reporton the proposed negotiating stance put forward by a young advisor to Irans nuclear negotiating team, who previously served as political editor of Irans hardline Kayhan newspaper.
Amid acontinued stalematein efforts to resume nuclear talks, a key advisor to Irans nuclear negotiating team has published a proposal he says has been previously presented to the United States and five world powers for resolving international concerns about Irans nuclear program, the Back ChannelreportedJanuary 22. The author, Mahdi (or Mehdi) Mohammadi, the former political editor ofKayhan..is one of two key architects of Irans nuclear negotiating strategy under the team led by Iran National Security Advisor Saeed Jalili, an Iranian source who requested anonymity said.
Iranunder the proposal Mohammadi set out inIran ReviewJan. 9would not begin to discuss curbing its higher 20% enrichment activitiesa chief international demanduntilafterthe lifting of US and European sanctions. Reacting to the proposal, former State Department nonproliferation official Mark Fitzpatricksaidit suggests that Iran is still in the opening salvo stages of negotiations, presenting its maximalist demands.
Mottaki expressed exasperation at the posturing and strange pre-conditions, according toBaztab: When a young journalist from Kayhan, with no experience in diplomacy and international relations, has become a key member on the nuclear negotiation team, and introduces strange preconditions; what kind of result can we expect from nuclear talks?
Mottaki also reportedly admonished Irans nuclear negotiating team over itshaggling with the P5+1over the marginal issue of where to hold negotiations. Instead, he suggested, negotiators might better invest their energy in making diplomatic headway that could advance a negotiated settlement that benefits the Iranian people.
Perhaps, he reportedly proposed, negotiators should choose a fixed location for negotiations in a non-partisan country, like Switzerlandand permanently solve the marginal issue of the negotiations location, and prepare the way for addressing the core of the issue and solving the countrys problem.
It seems, with respect to the will of the regime for controlling the effects of sanctionsthose responsible for negotiating must improve their methods, so that the benefit of these successive negotiations accrue to the country, he reportedly said.
The Baztab report, entitled Brothers, the nuclear negotiations hold the fate of 75 million people, theyre not work experience, was kindly translated by Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, editor of Al MonitorsIran Pulse.
By Al-Monitor
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
