talks to be held November 15-18, and the Islamic Republic has announced its readiness to talk—but later it renewed conditions.
Several times this month, officials of the Islamic Republic have complained that the West doesn’t really want to talk and asserted that Iran’s proposals for talks have been ignored. European officials have told reporters that the Iranians have not responded to repeated EU proposals for talks.
It appears that Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, decided to call Iran’s bluff. She stopped sending diplomatic cables to Tehran and instead made a public announcement last Thursday to come to Vienna for talks Monday through Thursday, November 15-18.
“We haven’t received anything in writing in response to our offers in the last weeks,” said Ashton spokesperson, Maja Kocijancik, when airing the new, public, offer.
The next day, both Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Saeed Jalili, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, publicly welcomed the offer, saying Iran was eager as ever to talk.
The last talks were in October 2009.
But on Sunday, President Ahmadi-nejad repeated Iran’s long-standing pre-conditions for talks.
Iran wants more countries in the talks besides the Big Six powers, though Iran has never proposed the names of any other attendees.
Iran wants the major powers to declare their goals in the talks. “Do they seek to befriend us or do they seek enmity?” he asked.
Iran wants each of the others to say what it thinks of Israel’s nuclear weapons. Do they support or oppose Israeli weaponry.
And Iran wants the Big Six to announce their positions on the regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency and their commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Most analysts in the West have considered these pre-conditions to be a means by which the Islamic Republic can avoid showing up for talks.