Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said Saturday that he had formally called on the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to return to the negotiating tale.
That was playing with words since Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, wrote Jalili a formal letter in October agreeing to a resumption of talks between Iran and the Big Six countries.
Jalili did not explain why he had waited more than two months to respond. But the long delay suggested to some analysts that the Islamic Republic was still pursuing a policy of delay, linger and wait.
The last meeting was held last January. Nothing resulted from it. Western diplomats said Jalili just stalled for hours and offered nothing.
In a speech in Tehran, Jalili said, “We formally told them to return to the path of negotiation based on cooperation.” But Ashton already told Jalili in writing in October that the Big Six were ready for that, so Jalili did not seem to be advancing anything.
Iran’s ambassador to Germany later said Jalili was sending Ashton a formal letter. But an Ashton aide said nothing had been received as of Saturday. Few expect anything to result from any further talks.
But some Western diplomats say it is necessary to hold these sessions to show the world that Iran isn’t doing anything but stalling, and to avoid having the West tabbed as the uncooperative side. Before 2008, the Bush Administration refused to spend its time going to fruitless talks with Iran.
As a result, many around the world said the United States was the problem preventing a solution of the nuclear issue with Iran. Reuters reported that Ashton sent Jalili a letter October 21 asking if the Islamic Republic was ready to discuss confidence- building measures.