No Compromise until Further Notice

Iran will not compromise until further notice. Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad, the Iranian President, still challenges West on its nuclear case and in his latest speech, he disappointed those Western diplomats who were optimistic about nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Ahmadinejhad has said that Iran currently possesses six thousand centrifuges for uranium enrichment. If Tehran was going to give the nod to economic and political incentives in return for halt of uranium enrichment, there were no needs for Ahmadinejhad to stress Iran’s nuclear ability. In his last week visit to an Iranian province, Ahmadinejhad reiterated that Iran will not put one step back in asserting its nuclear rights.

As Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently stated, the nuclear case is in hands of the government, therefore, Ahmadinejhad’s straightforward statements about Iran’s non-compromise over uranium enrichment send a clear message for West.

Last week in Geneva, Iran and 5+1 sat at the table to break the impasse, but it became clear that the negotiations had no significant achievement. Diplomats argue that Iran’s insistence on continuing uranium enrichment was the reason for the failure.

With various wordings, Iran has repeated that uranium enrichment is its red line in nuclear negotiations and it will not halt the process, but Western diplomats were hopeful that by finding a middle solution, they could at least attain a short-term compromise.

The compromise West talks of is the "freeze for freeze" idea. Based on this plan, Iran will stop development of its nuclear fuel cycle while West suspends imposing further sanctions against Iran.

The "freeze for freeze" idea was proposed for a six-week period as a starting point for serious negotiations between Tehran and West, but it seems Tehran isn’t ready for this proposal.

In his latest nuclear-related statements, Ahmadinejhad said that after Iran ran hundreds and thousands of centrifuges, the enemies evidently withdrew and accepted the progress of the Iranian nation, and only asked Iran to stop development of its nuclear activities from now on.

By ’enemies asked Iran to stop development of its nuclear activities’, Ahmadinejhad referred to Iran’s assumed promise in the "freeze for freeze" plan. Dubbing Western actors of the nuclear case ’enemy’ indicates the depth of his mistrust towards West. The Iranian government claims that it has pushed back and will defeat the country’s enemies in the nuclear story. Using this literature naturally reduces the possibility of any compromise with West.

Tehran officials say they will ultimately convince West to accept nuclear Iran. Meanwhile, West believes that continuing uranium enrichment will isolate Iran. They have warned Iran of the strict sanctions that’ll come about if Iran continues uranium enrichment.

It seems that optimism about a nuclear compromise between Iran and West is far from reality.

Last week during the Geneva talks, West set a fortnight deadline for Iran to say if it will halt uranium enrichment. There is not much time left for Iran to answer West about the future of its nuclear activity, but Ahmadinejhad’s speech implies Iran’s negative answer.

Some Western analysts argue that continuing uranium enrichment will give Iran the ability to build nuclear weapons by 2010. IAEA officials have admitted existence of 3500 centrifuges in Iran’s nuclear facilities after their last inspection proceeding in April 2008, but Ahmadinejhad’s claim that Iran owns 6000 active centrifuges adds to concerns of Western officials.

It seems that West has prepared itself for Iran’s negative answer after Ahmadinejhad’s statements. They haven’t received a promising message from Iran and it is unlikely that Tehran gives its nuclear policies a second thought.

In Iranian president’s discourse, Western countries are still the ’enemy’ and halting uranium enrichment within this context has only one meaning which is defeat. Ahmadinejhad doesn’t want to be the defeated, that’s why he keeps on challenging West.