By Vestnik Kavkaza
The agreement on the nuclear program between Iran and 5+1 (Russia, the USA, China, France, the UK, and Germany) begins its operation today. In late November, the sides agreed that in next 6 months Tehran freezes its nuclear program, while the countries of 5+1 loosen sanctions against Tehran.
At his big press conference yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that he didn’t want to speak about the Iranian problem in detail – he united several question on the topic in one. Putin stated that the progress achieved in the Iranian direction is mainly connected with a pragmatic position of the American administration. “I don’t think that recent statements by the US president mean that the Americans turn away from the policy which was developed together with us. Don’t forget that the administration is under pressure of various forces in the American establishment, including a significant part of the Congress which is oriented toward the position of Israel. I think we should should consider together what prevents Iranian-Israeli relations from development. I think everything which prevents relations between Iran and Israel from normalization should be analyzed and a negative side of the process should be minimized. Iran is interested in it, as well as Israel and the whole international society.”
Putin glossed over his answer to the question when he planned to visit Tehran; at the same time, Putin said that sanctions against the Islamic Republic are counterproductive: “It won’t give anything positive, from the point of view of final agreements… The Iranian people, Iranian state should have an opportunity to develop their technologies, including the nuclear sphere, peacefully; and the international society has no right to demand any discrimination restrictions from it.”
However, experts on the Middle East think that the agreement between Iran and 5+1 is a very encouraging event. Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, thinks it is a breakthrough. “In this breakthrough many forces can state that they have played a crucial role in achieving this result. The U.S. can state this, as Deputy Secretary of State William Burns has conducted secret talks with Iran. And the Iranian leaders themselves could say that it is, above all, their new position, their flexibility, their willingness to be more flexible, to address issues through negotiations and agreements. But we should not forget that Russia has long called for compromise on the path of mutual concessions, when appropriate compromise progress by Iran would be met by the gradual lifting of sanctions by the international community and, above all, of the West, which had applied unilateral sanctions,” Naumkin stated.
According to the expert, “the paradigm of this agreement is actually located in the former Russian initiatives. So I think we have reason to be proud of the achievements of our diplomacy, which is a major resource for us, that is the base of Russian policy-making. The very configuration of the political situation and political struggle in the region is constantly undergoing some transformation.”
