At the end of last week, Vienna hosted the first round of negotiations between international mediators and Iran to develop a comprehensive final agreement to close the Iranian nuclear dossier . Now talks continue at the expert level . The expert meeting of Tehran and the "six" (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany ) is expected in the margins of IAEA Board of Governors meeting, to be held March 3-7 in the Austrian capital. They want to discuss issues related to Iran's uranium enrichment process and the lifting of sanctions against Tehran.
However, according to Radzhab Safarov, President of the Center for the Study of Contemporary Iran, “the situation with the attempts to sign the final agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme is still quite ambiguous. The sides reached the new round of negotiations against the background of the negative reaction of the US and the passivity of the EU. This passivity is close to blocking these negotiations. The EU suddenly put forward a requirement that Iran should conclude nuclear contracts with European companies. It is real blackmail. In a difficult situation European does not forget its economic interests and wants to occupy the best pieces of the Iranian nuclear market. It also means that the plans for Russian-Iranian cooperation in the nuclear sphere will be blocked.”
Mr Safarov is sure that the U.S. administration do not want a resolution of the Iranian problem, they are interested in Iran being in this condition of insecurity, so they can pressure this country. “A strong Iran, an Iran not bothered by the sanctions to become a super-player in the region, will have a special weight in international and global questions, it will move aside the traditional allies of the US to the periphery. A strong Iran means a strong Russia", - declared the President of the Center for the Study of Contemporary Iran.
Alexander Kuznetsov, vice-president of the Institute for Predicting and Settling Political Conflicts, agrees with Mr Safarov that “the goal of the US is not to settle the nuclear problem and not to create a stable security system in the region, but rather to involve Iran in endless negotiations with more and more demands and concessions that were not foreseen by the Geneva agreement.”
According to Mr Kuznetsov, the U.S. President Barack Obama is under the influence of an Israel and Saudi lobby: “One can remember the words of the members of the Saudi royal family, Saudi Arabia's refusal to take a seat on the Security Council last October, the interview given by Prince Walid ibn Talal last December, where he called not to believe Iranian at the negotiations. This approach also bears its fruits.”
Speaking on the reasons why France is blocking the negotiations and acting against the ending of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear problem, Mr Kuznetsov said that “one needs to consider the particular relations between France and Saudi Arabia, the visit of President Hollande to Er-Riyad, where he was seduced with contracts worth billions in the economic sphere and connected to the import of French weapons to Saudi Arabia. Possibly, Hollande puts the short-term interests of his country above regional security. There are many obstacles appearing in the way of the negotiating process. To overcome these obstacles, the West has to change its strategic, conceptual approach and at the same time to give up conjuncture in the negotiations.
