World press on Iran nuclear problem (May 17, 2012)

Today British newspaper The Guradian published an article by Peter Jenkins headlined "Western diplomats are still getting it wrong on Iran".

"To put it simply, the Iranian basket would contain measures extending beyond those Iran is required to concede, and has conceded, as a party to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) – in order to increase western and Israeli confidence that Iran will not divert nuclear material to a clandestine military programme. The P5+1 basket, on the other hand, would mainly contain sanctions "relief" and the progressive lifting of the sanctions that the US, EU and UN have heaped on to Iran's back since 2006," the author says.

"Yet now the terms of the bargain appear to have changed. According to an Iran specialist at the Brookings Institution, quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, US administration officials are saying: "Sanctions relief is not on the table unless and until we see substantial Iranian concessions." This does not sound like an approach "guided by the principle of reciprocity". From a European capital, meanwhile, comes a report that the EU is reluctant to accept that initial Iranian concessions will have to be bought through substantial sanctions relief or removal," he says.

"This sort of miscalculation may betray a continuing western delusion. Numerous statements since Istanbul suggest western ministers and officials continue to overestimate Iranian susceptibility to the diplomatic application of western power," the article reads.

"There are circumstances, such as the 1995 Dayton peace process, in which the diplomatic application of power can be an effective dispute resolution tool. But since 2005 it has failed to work on Iran. Having what it takes to survive western aggression is vital to Iran's sense of self. Successful defiance enables Iran to demonstrate to itself and to other non-aligned countries that Iran is on the way back from 200 years of humiliation at western (and Russian) hands," the author says.

"If the west wants a negotiated agreement, it must play straight. The west has promised reciprocity. A failure to respect that promise will produce yet another lost opportunity, to the detriment of the western interest in reduced tensions in south-west Asia and to the continuing cost of western living standards," the author concludes.