Lucia

de Vernai

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July 21, 2008

Iran Talks: Deal Time or Delay Tactics?

The drop in prices at the pump can in part be contributed to the high hopes associated with the Iran-U.S. talks in Geneva. In a significant shift in its policy of not engaging in opening talks until Iran ceased its uranium-enrichment program, diplomats from the UN, EU and the U.S. have presented Iran with a freeze-for-freeze offer that provides for no more sanctions against the country in return for Tehran suspending nuclear activities.

The Iranian delegation expressed interest in the deal, but it’s unclear whether they are willing to take it or are trying to buy time. That’s a tough one. Iran tested missiles last week and has been exchanging threats with Israel.

Yep, looks like these guys are ready to smoke the peace pipe.

To be fair, since the EU froze the assets of Iran’s largest bank, Bank Melli, in late June, sanctions have inflated food prices by 50 percent and caused repeated water shortages and power outages.

Iranians claim that the nuclear program is designed to meet the country’s energy needs. That would be a lot easier to believe if this were not the country that still stones people for adultery. With one of the highest execution rates in the world, instead of selling out to the Western methods of killing prisoners and powering up the chair, they stayed traditional. Americans have a guilty conscience too, so no one is pointing fingers. It’s just that nuclear energy is something the progressive French do. And the French do a lot of things that get you stoned in Iran.

That’s not to say that Iran is not working on developing energy-oriented nuclear programs. That may very well be a social good the government seeks to provide between stoning people and making sure women can’t read. Still, when President Ahmadinejad called the Iranian nuclear program an “unstoppable train with no brakes,” it didn’t sound like he was excited about eliminating coal and oil dependence.

So if the Iranians have no real plans of freezing their nuclear endeavors, why attend the first negotiations with the U.S. since the 1970s? Perhaps to buy time and watch the Bush Administration’s legacy give way to Barack Obama’s. Obama has spoken of opening negotiations with Iran and it seems that Iran is willing to risk a preemptive strike from Israel waiting for his potential presidency. As the BBC World News noted, in Farsi, Obama means “he-with-us.”

Whether Tehran is taking the coincidence to heart is questionable, but the timing is no accident. 

Willingness to negotiate on the part of Iran is an indicator of progress, at least for the time being. Another encouraging component in the negotiation is the simultaneous involvement of the international community. While it is the presence of Security Council member states and other EU nations that garners the most attention, representatives from China and Russia were also there. Their presence helped to avoid the “big bad hegemonic U.S. versus misunderstood Middle Eastern nation” syndrome. And American diplomacy can certainly use a dose of that.

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