Iran ex-president's whispered comment on nuclear talks
A sarcastic comment from one of Iran's senior leaders overheard by observers has fuelled suspicions that Iran is using international talks on its nuclear programme to play for time as its expands its stockpile of nuclear material.
Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, a former president, at the Iranian parliament in Tehran on Sunday
Photo: EPA
5:28PM BST 31 May 2012
Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president,
questioned the value of talks with world powers in a whispered comment
to his successor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during an address to
parliament by Saeed Jalili, the chief negotiator.
The
comments were published on a regime sponsored website, Baztab News a
week after Iranian diplomats held talks in Baghdad with the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany.
The
group of major trading states offered assistance to Iran in return for
the country suspending critical parts of its nuclear programme.
Mr
Rafsanjani turned to Mr Ahmadinejad sitting next to him and asked: "Do
you really believe in what you are hearing? Do you think we have
achieved anything during these talks?"
Mr Jalili had been repeating Iranian claims to have secured major concessions during the talks.
Baztab News reported that Mr Ahmadinejad nodded enthusiastically and broke into a laugh. Mr Rafsanjani, who has a reputation as a dove in favour of Iranian engagement with the West, has emerged as a critic of the talks.
Iranian officials claimed to have been shocked by the world powers failure to offer firm pledges on the suspension or removal of sanctions that have crippled its economy.
"We went to Baghdad with some false expectations but I do not believe we have achieved any substantial progress. We are not still in a position to assess the other party's tactics and must wait until we receive the necessary intelligence to plan our next move," he said.
However Western diplomats claim the Baghdad talks achieved an unprecedented engagement with the Iranians on nuclear issues. On that basis, diplomats said it was worth keeping the talks going.
"We've said that all along, that there's a narrow window that remains open for dialogue, for diplomatic solution, but that window's not going to remain open – to belabour the metaphor – forever," said Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman. "What we did have was a substantive discussion of the nuclear issue, which in and of itself is progress, but we're going to look forward to greater progress in Moscow.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment