Iran’s Supreme Leader has warned his country will not step back “one
iota” from its nuclear rights, as it resumes talks with world powers
in Geneva.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he would not intervene directly in the
negotiations, but that he had set “red lines” for Iran’s
representatives.
President Barack Obama meanwhile urged US senators not to impose new
sanctions on Iran to allow time for diplomacy.
He was unsure if it would be possible to reach an interim agreement soon.
“We don’t know if we’ll be able to close a deal with Iran this week or
next week,” he told a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) forum in Washington on
Tuesday.
Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes
only, but world powers suspect it is seeking to develop nuclear
weapons.
‘Way forward’
In a televised speech to Basij militiamen on Wednesday, Ayatollah
Khamenei said Iran’s negotiators had been set clear limits before they
travelled to Switzerland for two days of meetings with representatives
of the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China and Russia, plus Germany.
They failed to agree a deal at a previous round of talks earlier this
month mainly because of what diplomats said was Iran’s insistence on
formal recognition of its “right” to enrich uranium and France’s
concerns about the heavy-water reactor being built at Arak.
“We do insist that we will not step back one iota from our rights,”
Ayatollah Khamenei said.
But he added: “We do not intervene in the details of these talks.
There are certain red lines and limits. These have to be observed.”
The Supreme Leader, who has final say in Iran’s nuclear matters,
warned the P5+1 not to “ratchet up the pressure”.
“They should know that the Iranian nation respects all nations of the
world, but we will slap aggressors in the face in such a way they will
never forget it.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also said French leaders were “not only succumbing
to the United States, but they are kneeling before” Israel, which he
described as “the rabid dog of the region”.
A French foreign ministry spokeswoman said President Francois Hollande
believed the comments were “unacceptable” and would complicate
negotiations.
The talks in Geneva will be led in the first instance by the EU’s
foreign policy chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton, and Iran’s Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
In a video message posted on YouTube on Tuesday, Mr Zarif urged the
P5+1 to deal with Iran on an “equal footing” and stressed that for his
country nuclear energy was “about securing the future of our children,
about diversifying our economy, about stopping the burning of our oil,
and about generating clean power”.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to Iran’s President
Hassan Rouhani by telephone. It was the first such conversation
between British and Iranian leaders for more than a decade.
‘Open the spigot’
Mr Obama told the WSJ forum that any interim agreement – expected to
last six months – would see the bulk of international and US sanctions
targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme remain in place.
Mr Obama explained that the “essence of the deal” would be that Iran
would halt advances of its nuclear programme – including rolling back
elements that might “get them closer to what we call breakout
capacity, where they can run for a weapon before the international
community has a chance to react”, and agreeing to “more vigorous
inspections”.
“In return, what we would do would be to open up the spigot a little
bit for a very modest amount of relief that is entirely subject to
reinstatement if, in fact, they violated any part of this early
agreement,” he said.
During a visit to Israel on Sunday, President Hollande said Iran would
have to agree to halting its enrichment of uranium to a medium level
of purity, or 20%; reducing its existing stockpile of enriched
uranium, and stopping the construction of the Arak heavy-water
reactor.
Experts say Iran’s 20%-enriched uranium could be enriched to
weapons-grade, or 90%, in a relatively short time, while spent fuel
from the Arak reactor will contain plutonium suitable for use in
nuclear weapons. – BBC News
