Iran Nuclear Talks Resume in Geneva

Nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1 resumed today in Geneva. Iranian and American negotiating teams were also to hold bilateral meetings today at noon local time and again on Tuesday.

Nuclear Talks to Resume on 17 December

Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers will resume on 17 December in Geneva, the EU announced today. The one-day meeting will be at the level of political directors rather than ministers.

Details of the interim nuclear deal agreed upon at Geneva - Updated

Above: Zarif and Kerry shake hands upon concluding interim nuclear agreement (photo: AFP)

UPDATE: Joint Plan of Action document uploaded by FARS News Agency, click HERE.

The American perspective on the terms [Source: usembassy.gov]

• Iran halts enrichment above 5% and dismantle the technical connections required to enrich above 5%.

• Dilute below 5% or convert to a form not suitable for further enrichment its entire stockpile of near-20% enriched uranium before the end of the initial phase.

• Not install additional centrifuges of any type.

• Not install or use any next-generation centrifuges to enrich uranium.

• Leave inoperable roughly half of installed centrifuges at Natanz and three-quarters of installed centrifuges at Fordow, so they cannot be used to enrich uranium.

• Limit its centrifuge production to those needed to replace damaged machines, so Iran cannot use the six months to stockpile centrifuges.

• Not construct additional enrichment facilities.

• Not increase its stockpile of 3.5% low enriched uranium, so that the amount is not greater at the end of the six months than it is at the beginning, and any newly enriched 3.5% enriched uranium is converted into oxide. Iran has committed to no further advances of its activities at Arak and to halt progress on its plutonium track. Iran has committed to:

• Not commission the Arak reactor.

• Not fuel the Arak reactor.

• Halt the production of fuel for the Arak reactor.

• No additional testing of fuel for the Arak reactor.

• Not install any additional reactor components at Arak.

• Not transfer fuel and heavy water to the reactor site.

• Not construct a facility capable of reprocessing. Without reprocessing, Iran cannot separate plutonium from spent fuel.

• Provide daily access by IAEA inspectors at Natanz and Fordow. This daily access will permit inspectors to review surveillance camera footage to ensure comprehensive monitoring. This access will provide even greater transparency into enrichment at these sites and shorten detection time for any non-compliance.

• Provide IAEA access to centrifuge assembly facilities.

• Provide IAEA access to centrifuge rotor component production and storage facilities.

• Provide IAEA access to uranium mines and mills.

• Provide long-sought design information for the Arak reactor. This will provide critical insight into the reactor that has not previously been available.

• Provide more frequent inspector access to the Arak reactor.

• Provide certain key data and information called for in the Additional Protocol to Iran’s IAEA Safeguards Agreement and Modified Code 3.1.

• The IAEA will be called upon to perform many of these verification steps, consistent with their ongoing inspection role in Iran. In addition, the P5+1 and Iran have committed to establishing a Joint Commission to work with the IAEA to monitor implementation and address issues that may arise. The Joint Commission will also work with the IAEA to facilitate resolution of past and present concerns with respect to Iran’s nuclear program, including the possible military dimension of Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s activities at Parchin.

• P5+1 has committed to not impose new nuclear-related sanctions for six months, if Iran abides by its commitments under this deal, to the extent permissible within their political systems.

• Suspend certain sanctions on gold and precious metals, Iran’s auto sector, and Iran’s petrochemical exports, potentially providing Iran approximately $1.5 billion in revenue.

• License safety-related repairs and inspections inside Iran for certain Iranian airlines.

• Allow purchases of Iranian oil to remain at their currently significantly reduced levels – levels that are 60% less than two years ago. $4.2 billion from these sales will be allowed to be transferred in installments if, and as, Iran fulfills its commitments.

• Allow $400 million in governmental tuition assistance to be transferred from restricted Iranian funds directly to recognized educational institutions in third countries to defray the tuition costs of Iranian students.

• Facilitate humanitarian transactions to Iran that are already allowed by U.S. law. Humanitarian transactions are those related to Iran’s purchase of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, medical devices and also facilitate transactions for medical expenses incurred abroad.

The Iranian perspective on the terms [Source: PressTV]:

•  Iran's civil enrichment program is in effect recognized.

•  Iran's right to a civil nuclear power program is in effect confirmed.

•  Iran is allowed to maintain its facilities at Arak, Fordo, and Natanz. 

Lavrov asserts U.S. last minute change effectively averted deal in Geneva

 

According to IPS News:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed a crucial detail Thursday about last week’s nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva that explains much more clearly than previous reports why the meeting broke up without agreement.

Lavrov said the United States circulated a draft that had been amended in response to French demands to other members of the six-power P5+1 for approval “literally at the last moment, when we were about to leave Geneva.”

[...]

There was an American-proposed draft, which eventually received Iran’s consent.” Lavrov thus confirmed the fact that the United States and Iran had reached informal agreement on a negotiating text.

[...]

Then Lavrov revealed for the first time that the U.S. delegation had made changes in the negotiating text that had already been worked out with Iran at the insistence of France without having consulted Russia.

“But amendments to [the negotiating draft] suddenly surfaced,” Lavrov said. “We did not see them. And the amended version was circulated literally at the last moment, when we were about to leave Geneva.”

The crucial details provided by Lavrov on the timing of the amended draft shed new light on Secretary of State John Kerry’s claim in a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday of unity among the six powers on the that draft.

Kerry gave no indication of when on Saturday that proposal had been approved by the other five powers, nor did he acknowledge explicitly that it was a draft that departed from the earlier draft agreed upon with Iran. Lavrov’s remarks make it clear that the other members of the group had little or no time to study or discuss the changes before deciding whether to go along with it.

If Lavrov is being candid, this is reminiscent of the 2010 Tehran Agreement brokered by Turkey and Brazil, which had been approved by the Obama administration beforehand on the assumption the Iranians would reject the terms. When the Iranians approved it, the U.S. rejected the initiative and terms it green-lighted, and rushed forward with more sanctions against Iran.

Additionally, this is not the first time a more moderate administration in Iran has been left to hang out and dry following  rapprochement efforts towards the United States. Previously, the Khatami administration undertook largely successful efforts assisting the United States leading up to and during the initial stages of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The Bush Administration pocketed  that goodwill, only to turn around and brand Iran as a member of an "Axis of Evil," greatly undermining the liberal administration of President Khatami.

It is this sort of historical background that forms the basis for the SL branch of IRIG's skepticism towards the current round of nuclear negotiations.

Cause for Geneva talks failure being spun: FM Zarif

 

Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif offered this tweet following Secretary of State Kerry's assignment of blame on the Iranians for the cause of no nuclear deal being reached at Geneva with the P5+1:

"No amount of spinning can change what happened within 5+1 in Geneva from 6PM Thursday to 545 PM Saturday.But it can further erode confidence"

Returning to Iran empty handed, the Iranian delegation and the Rouhani administration now face from the Iranian perspective, the warranted skepticism of the SL branch of IRIG, the Iranian parliament, and the IRGC in a position of "we told you so."

China's FM Wang Yi attending Saturday's nuclear talks in Geneva

Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi

 According to Press TV:

An Iranian deputy foreign minister says the trilateral talks among Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and US Secretary of State John Kerry over Tehran’s nuclear energy program were “productive”.

Meanwhile, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers have decided to go to Geneva. Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi will travel to Switzerland on Saturday.

More hopeful news. The publicly stated Iranian goal is to achieve an agreement during this session of nuclear talks in Geneva.

Kerry says no agreement reached yet

Netanyahu furious at the prospect of an agreement

U.S. Secretary of State disembarks USAF-operated Boeing C-32A (757-2G4) in Geneva 

According to BBC News:

US Secretary of State John Kerry has stressed that no agreement has yet been reached on Iran's nuclear programme, as he arrived for key talks in Geneva.

He has joined the UK, French and German foreign ministers for unscheduled talks with Iranian representatives.

Under a deal that has been floated Iran is expected to halt some enrichment activity for limited sanctions relief.

Israel's PM said he "utterly rejected" such a deal and that his country would not be obliged to abide by it.

A nuclear deal of any sort has never appeared this close. For the long run, everything hinges on the issue of Iran's right to the nuclear fuel cycle, which may or may not be sidestepped at this point in the negotiation process.

For Netanyahu, the days where President Ahmadinejad made things easy with anti-West public tirades are over. There are those that contend the Israelis are heavily reliant on an enemy to draw attention away from their expansive colonial project in the Levant at the expense of the Palestinians and intentionally stalled Middle East peace efforts, as well as maintaining a special, exclusive relationship with Washington. Judging by the Israeli Prime Ministers recent behavior, such insecurities are on full display.