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Nuclear Talks With Iran Resume West Sees Unity on Iran Despite Crisis In Ukraine
(about 7 hours later)
VIENNA — Talks on a permanent nuclear agreement with Iran resumed in Vienna on Tuesday, heavily shadowed by tensions between the West and Russia. VIENNA — Talks on a permanent nuclear agreement with Iran resumed in Vienna on Tuesday, heavily shadowed by the Ukraine crisis between the West and Russia. But European and American officials said their differences with the Kremlin had no effect on the unified position they all take aimed at ensuring the Iranians can never make atomic bombs.
“Important and tough discussions ahead today,” Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Twitter. “We have held our end of the bargain. Time for our counterparts to keep theirs.” Iran’s delegation to the two-day talks here made no public mention of the East-West crisis over the fate of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which the Russian government annexed on Tuesday in defiance of Western condemnation and economic sanctions. Western diplomats and proliferation experts have said they feared the crisis would create schisms that Iran could exploit among the so-called P5-Plus-One countries negotiating with Iran, which are the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany.
Mr. Zarif was apparently referring to limits on Iranian nuclear activities outlined in a temporary nuclear accord that took effect on Jan. 20. Iran signed on to the accord in exchange for temporary relief of sanctions from the West. Michael Mann, a spokesman for Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, who is the lead negotiator for the P5-Plus-One group, told reporters he had not seen “any negative effect” on the talks attributable to the Ukraine crisis. Mr. Mann also said Ms. Ashton and her Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, “had a constructive meeting this morning to discuss the day’s business.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Zarif met with Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, first, shortly before the full delegations sat down together. The discussions are expected to end late on Wednesday. A senior official at the United States Treasury Department, which helps administer American economic sanctions against Iran — and now Russia — also said the Kremlin had done nothing to suggest it would undermine the outside pressure on Iran to resolve the decade-old nuclear dispute. Iran has insisted its nuclear activities are peaceful and has repeatedly denied assertions, mostly from the West and Israel, that it aspires to achieve the ability to make nuclear weapons.
It was unclear what effect the crisis in Ukraine would have on the talks, whether by distracting Western and Russian attention, diluting Moscow’s commitment to a settlement or turning the Iranian nuclear impasse into a bargaining chip in what has been cast as a looming new Cold War. Iran appeared to set a hardened posture, however, in the Vienna talks, which are scheduled to conclude Wednesday. Mr. Zarif, an American-educated diplomat who has frequently taken to social media to promulgate his views, said in a Twitter post that he expected the discussions to be “important and tough,” and that “"We have held our end of the bargain. Time for our counterparts to keep theirs.”
Although the talks have no direct connection to Ukraine, their success hinges on solidarity among the six world powers: the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia, plus Germany — in favor of a tough agreement with Iran to significantly scale back its nuclear program. He apparently was alluding to a six-month accord that took effect on Jan. 20, and was designed to give negotiators more time to reach a permanent agreement. Under the temporary accord, which is renewable, Iran curtailed uranium enrichment and some other nuclear activities in exchange for a modest easing of Western sanctions that have hurt its economy.
If Russia signals that its cooperation with the West has weakened, that will reduce pressure on Iran to make concessions, said experts knowledgeable about the talks. Mr. Zarif also appeared to telegraph his displeasure over Ms. Ashton’s meeting with a group of Iranian dissident women while she was on a visit to Tehran on March 8, the first trip there by the top European Union foreign policy official in more than five years. Iran’s official news media said Mr. Zarif canceled a dinner with Ms. Ashton on the eve of the Vienna talks over what they called her undiplomatic behavior. But it is unclear if that was the reason.
Even before the Ukraine crisis, there had been no expectation that a deal would be reached quickly. The temporary accord, which lasts until July and is renewable, was designed to give negotiators more latitude to reach a permanent agreement. Mr. Mann disputed the Iranian version of events. “She was in Iran last weekend and spent a lot of time with the minister, so it was felt there was less need for a dinner this time,” he said in an email. “She had preparation to do with her team.”
The talks are being watched closely in Israel, which has not ruled out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. In the newspaper Haaretz on Tuesday, Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, was quoted as saying that the United States “should lead the campaign against Iran” but instead was negotiating with Tehran. The nuclear talks are watched closely in Israel, which regards Iran as a top security threat and has not ruled out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. In the newspaper Haaretz on Tuesday, Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, was quoted as saying that the United States “should lead the campaign against Iran” instead of negotiating.
“Therefore, on this matter, we have to behave as though we have nobody to look out for us but ourselves,” he said in a remark that some analysts said did not necessarily amount to a call for a military strike. “Therefore, on this matter, we have to behave as though we have nobody to look out for us but ourselves,” he was quoted as saying.