Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in correspondence with U.S. Democratic Senator Carl Levin, opposed the introduction of new sanctions against Iran, "Interfax" reports. "Now, with serious negotiations under way, we must do our best to check whether they can lead to solving the problem on a permanent basis," Mrs Clinton wrote. She has no illusions about easily reaching such an agreement, but she has "no doubt that now is the time when we have to give diplomacy the space for action." Meanwhile, more than half of the senators will be in favor of new sanctions against Iran if the ongoing negotiations on a comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear program are not successful. Perhaps Mrs Clinton's position is due to the fact that the level of hostility between the U.S. and Iran is strongly overestimated.
According to the president of the Institute of Religion and Politics, Alexander Ignatenko, "Americans shift their attitude toward Iran. Do not overestimate the level of hostility between Iran and the United States. I'll just cite one fact related to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This invasion was prepared by the Americans and anti-Iraqi forces, an anti-Saddam coalition. But a very big role in this invasion was played by the Badr Corps, which was formed in Iran by Iraqis (the Badr Corps was formed from the Iraqi Shiites and fought on the side of the Ayatollahs against Saddam Hussein during the Iran -Iraq war. The organization's HQ before the American occupation of Iraq was in Iran - editor's note). And who worked there? CIA employees worked with the Ayatollahs and with the Iranian intelligence services, implementing one of the operations. That is, at least since 2003 the Americans and the Iranians have normal business relations, which have been built and strengthened since then."
Mr Ignatenko also drew attention to the experts' suggestions that "behind the scenes, there are negotiations between the Israelis and Iranians, between the Israelis and the Saudis, who involve the Israelis into attacking Iran, while the Israelis don't agree and say they are no fools. These processes would have been difficult to imagine about 20-30 years ago."
Moscow is also against sanctions towards Iran, as you know. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that sanctions hurt teamwork. "We suggested a concept based on the stepping and consent principle. The concept also requires confirmation of Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power, including enrichment of uranium by Iran for these purposes under the IAEA's close control and within the rights of non-nuclear members of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is the first round, it will last for six months. However, the second round is beginning at the moment, not after the end of the first one. Its goal is to achieve a final settlement of all problems with the Iranian nuclear program. The document, which was adopted by the 5+1 group and the Iranian Foreign Minister on November 24th in Geneva, says that a set of final accords on the settlement should involve an approved level of Iran's nuclear program, including uranium enrichment volume for peaceful purposes."
"When all problems are eliminated, all sanctions will have to be lifted, including sanctions launched by the UN Security Council. Of course it is difficult work," Mr Lavrov says. "I cannot say when it will end, how much time it will take, but we will strive for an early settlement of the problem and for prevention of artificial obstacles, artificial prolongation of the talks. As far as I can see, the other members of the 5+1 and Iran support this position, and that is a reason for moderate optimism."
