G5+1 was empty-handed and miscalculated in Istanbul (Analysis)
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, Jan 23, IRNA -- Iran appeared strong in negotiations with G5+1 in Istanbul on January 21-22, but miscalculation of G5+1 prevented reaching any agreement.
At the end of third round of talks between Iran and G5+1, it became evident that G5+1 cannot reach any rational agreement with Iran and hence no specific result was gained from Istanbul talks.
Saying that Istanbul negotiations failed may not be right. By looking closer at what happened in the two-day negotiations one comes to know that the G5+1 members actually failed to impose their expansionist approach on Iran. Iran that had managed to impose its views in Geneva talks, it abstained from accepting any discussion beyond the Geneva framework.
In the first round of talks in Istanbul held on Friday morning, Iran proposed practical suggestions in several areas to G5+1. Iran’s proposals shocked G5+1 because they did not expect to enter negotiations with such approach.
Furthermore, Iran showed that it is not only committed to the agenda set in Geneva, but it has also contemplated on the agenda agreed upon in Geneva and turned them into practical suggestions. This is while G5+1 failed to render any practical suggestions within the framework of ‘Dialogue for Cooperation’ of Geneva negotiations. Instead, G5+1 repeated its previous issues exactly like Geneva. The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, called on G5+1 to avoid repeating its previous statements.
Although, G5+1 did not reject Iran’s proposals which were working on the common stances in the first place and they even accepted to put them on the agenda of next round of talks, it did not happen eventually.
In the second round of talks which were held on Friday afternoon, Iran went even one step further and proposed a practical mechanism for implementation of its proposals of the first round of talks. Prior to the negotiations, G5+1 said that it was looking for a modality with Iran to set a framework for a series of lengthy and extensive talks in a definite period of time. However, G5+1 did not give any specific proposal or response at this stage due to differences among the member states that were quite evident after the first round of talks.
Two proposals by Iran, giving specific proposals for cooperation in the first rounds of talks and proposing a practical mechanism in the second round of talks, resulted in G5+1 to completely lose its integrity. But this was not the end of it because Iran’s next step had a considerable impact on G5+1.
Iran’s final move was adopting a negotiation logic within the framework of the agenda of ‘Dialogue for cooperation on the basis of common points’ for G5+1 member states. It was obvious that G5+1 did not have a clear understanding of it. As Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili in his final press conference in Istanbul on Saturday said “Iran has believed that negotiations can only be meaningful within a cooperation framework. In other words, if the west wants to see progress in negotiations, it should be committed to the pledges it made in Geneva.
Moreover, as Mr. Jalili also said there are prerequisites for cooperation such as Iran’s right to uranium enrichment and stopping disrespecting Iran’s rights in the form of UN Security Council resolutions and imposing sanctions. At this stage, Iran emphasized that it does not take any responsibility for the opposite side. It is important to realize that these issues have not been set as preconditions, but they have been determined as logical prerequisites for cooperation with G5+1.
Accordingly, G5+1 did its best to focus on the old literature of confidence building. Western sources said that G5+1 wanted Iran to take a confidence-building step and then to focus on other topics. It is quite natural that Iran considers the confidence-building step as tantamount to assuming that Iran has done something wrong in the first place.
The final point is that Iran attended the negotiations from a strong stance, while the West was again entrapped in its serious miscalculations. Iranian officials spoke articulately, they proposed practical methods for implementing their proposals, they tried hard to achieve the objectives set in Geneva and called on G5+1 member states to remain committed to their pledges. Finally, they said that negotiations can continue, but only within the framework agreed by the negotiating parties.
HS**1416
Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30202722
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