One Step Back for The Sake of Negotiations
Interview with Hosein Alayi on Geneva talks and Iran-US interaction
Iranian Diplomacy: Iranian and American diplomats met after 30 years on the sidelines of the Geneva negotiations. How will the encounter affect bilateral ties?
Iran and the United States have suffered strained relations for thirty years. At times, the tensions escalated to the brink of war. As time passes, the no war, no peace state should be changed for better.
It seems that since Obama’s presidency, United States has decided to change the atmosphere and open a new path towards talks with Iran. Obama’s first step was his decision for unconditional talks on the nuclear issue with Iran. Compared with George Bush, he has also spoken with a softer tone about Iran. Meanwhile, Iran is also not looking for more friction with the United States; rather it looks for a way to manage the challenges. It seems that nuclear talks are currently the only communication channel for bilateral talks. The case is in fact a challenge between Iran and the U.S., not Iran and Five plus One. If Iran and the United States reach an agreement, other countries will have fewer problems with Iran. Hence, the most important thing that happened in Geneva was the talks between Iran and U.S. representatives during lunch which even overshadowed the whole negotiations.
Both Iran and West have called the talks constructive. What do you think of the outcomes?
If you remember, there was a tense pre-negotiations atmosphere, a lot of uproar about the Qom facility, and talks about further sanctions in case of failure of the negotiations. Geneva talk rendered all these talks unimportant and you see that Five plus One is not talking of toughening the sanctions anymore. As to the Qom facility, Iran has agreed with IAEA chief visit of the facility. So it seems that a minimum of agreements have been made in the talks and both sides are content with the result.
Iran said that it would not negotiate about its nuclear program, but Geneva talks were mainly about Iran’s nuclear activities. Some see this as a good will gesture, but others believe that Iran has taken one step back. What do you think?
I think both sides took one step back. Five plus One also said that it would only talk about the nuclear issue but we saw that they agreed to discuss some other problems. Iran also decided to discuss its nuclear program. Every negotiation needs both sides to practice flexibility and that was what happened in Geneva talks.
Iran and the United States have suffered strained relations for thirty years. At times, the tensions escalated to the brink of war. As time passes, the no war, no peace state should be changed for better.
It seems that since Obama’s presidency, United States has decided to change the atmosphere and open a new path towards talks with Iran. Obama’s first step was his decision for unconditional talks on the nuclear issue with Iran. Compared with George Bush, he has also spoken with a softer tone about Iran. Meanwhile, Iran is also not looking for more friction with the United States; rather it looks for a way to manage the challenges. It seems that nuclear talks are currently the only communication channel for bilateral talks. The case is in fact a challenge between Iran and the U.S., not Iran and Five plus One. If Iran and the United States reach an agreement, other countries will have fewer problems with Iran. Hence, the most important thing that happened in Geneva was the talks between Iran and U.S. representatives during lunch which even overshadowed the whole negotiations.
Both Iran and West have called the talks constructive. What do you think of the outcomes?
If you remember, there was a tense pre-negotiations atmosphere, a lot of uproar about the Qom facility, and talks about further sanctions in case of failure of the negotiations. Geneva talk rendered all these talks unimportant and you see that Five plus One is not talking of toughening the sanctions anymore. As to the Qom facility, Iran has agreed with IAEA chief visit of the facility. So it seems that a minimum of agreements have been made in the talks and both sides are content with the result.
Iran said that it would not negotiate about its nuclear program, but Geneva talks were mainly about Iran’s nuclear activities. Some see this as a good will gesture, but others believe that Iran has taken one step back. What do you think?
I think both sides took one step back. Five plus One also said that it would only talk about the nuclear issue but we saw that they agreed to discuss some other problems. Iran also decided to discuss its nuclear program. Every negotiation needs both sides to practice flexibility and that was what happened in Geneva talks.