Same As It Ever Was!

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff writer America’s chief nuclear negotiator has acknowledged that certain allies of the United States and members of the Congress don’t want to see a final nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations:

Date: 24 October 2014 - 22:02

News ID: ۶۶۲۳

1. "Some worry that it will fail. Others seem to fear that it will succeed. Many have questions and doubts," Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
-So it wasn’t Iran; it was them who started all this mess in the first place. If that is the case, which is, then how come in the past official Washington used to complain and allege that it is Tehran which is not sincere and cooperative in efforts to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear dispute?

2. Sherman went on to state, "The White House has consulted regularly with members of Congress and with our many overseas partners, including Israel and the Persian Gulf states. We have heard a variety of concerns and done our best to answer hard questions."
-Tehran was right to maintain that it is because of the pressures from allies like Israel and Arab monarchies that Washington has no intention to end the nuclear dispute. The West has politicized the dispute. Otherwise, Tehran has nothing to hide with regard to the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.

3. Sherman stated that a possible comprehensive deal between Iran and P5+1 - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - gives the world confidence that Tehran’s nuclear energy program is exclusively peaceful and that the Islamic Republic would get significant relief from the Western sanctions.
-Quite the opposite, it is Washington and allies that need to give confidence to Tehran that they are no longer toying with Tehran because of outside pressures. Tehran’s program has been and still is peaceful: All new reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are pretty much positive, generally saying Tehran is cooperating with the agency under the Geneva deal and that the information it provides is consistent with the IAEA’s findings regarding the civilian nature of its nuclear activities.
It’s the same sentiment among the U.S. and European spy agencies and their Iran nuclear reports. They also uphold that some issues are left to be resolved later in accordance with the agreed-upon timetable. But in general, they maintain that Tehran is in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
4. Sherman in conclusion said, "The Obama administration is aware, of course, that this negotiating process is, shall we say, controversial, but diplomacy with Tehran is worth the risk. The ongoing negotiations progressed at a deliberative pace, which is diplo-speak for not so fast. We have made impressive progress on issues that originally seemed intractable. November 24 is the deadline for clinching a deal. This is the time to finish the job."
-The dispute over Iran and its nuclear program was and still is controversial and political. Consequently, it is pretty much evident that the anti-Iran sanction resolutions by the UN Security Council and the West were and still are short of scientific, technical, legal or justified virtues, and only endorsed under immense pressure and coercion from the U.S., the Zionist regime of Israel and the pro-Israel lobby in Washington – as maintained by Sherman.
Just for the record, back in February 2007, former assistant secretary for nonproliferation and international security at the U.S. State Department, Stephen G. Rademaker, acknowledged the irrefutable fact that "some of the votes against Iran at the IAEA were coerced".
No wonder the head of the UN nuclear agency, the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, and the international community are now saying that "there is no evidence whatsoever that proves Tehran’s nuclear program is not peaceful”. Same as it ever was!
In any case, the chief aim of the U.S.-led sanctions was to stop the upward progress of Iran’s civilian nuclear program and its enrichment-related activities. So even if the preceding IAEA reports were positive, the Security Council could have still gone with the plan to ink sanction resolutions against Tehran.
In summary, by taking part in nuclear talks, Tehran continues to prove to the international community that it has nothing to hide. So it is to the advantage of the West and the UN Security Council - for regaining their credibility - to declare their sanctions as illegal and void, normalize Iran’s nuclear dossier, and return it to the IAEA Board of Governors - where it belongs. Why wait until November 24?