Zarif to Attend Munich Security Conference

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will attend the Munich Security Conference, which will be held from January 31 to February 2. (IRNA/Press TV, 5 January)

Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi today confirmed that Zarif has accepted an invitation by Munich Conference Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger to attend the conference, which brings together senior foreign policy and national security officials from around the globe, as well as the business leaders and civil society activists.

The Munich Security Conference this year celebrates its 50^th anniversary; it began in 1963 at the height of the Cold War and has become the leading independent conference for the discussion of international security policy.

File photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (IRNA)

West Skeptical on Nuclear Deal with Iran

US and European officials today voiced doubt that a deal with Iran on swapping its low-enriched uranium is close. On Friday, Iran’s foreign minister told Munich Security Conference that prospect for clinching such deal was good.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in Ankara on Saturday that he did not have a sense the two sides were close to an agreement.

“If they are prepared to take up the original proposal of the P-5 plus one of delivering 12,000 kilograms of their low enriched uranium all at once to an agreed party, I think there would be a response to that.

“But the reality is they have done nothing to reassure the international community they are prepared… to stop their progress towards a nuclear weapon, and therefore I think various nations need to think about whether the time has come for a different tack,” Gates added.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also said at Munich Conference that Iran had so far failed to dispel Western skepticism that it was prepared to make meaningful concessions over its nuclear program.

"Our hand is still reaching out towards them. But so far it's reaching out into nothingness… And I've seen nothing since yesterday that makes me want to change that view," Westerwelle said.

Mottaki To Munich

The Iranian Foreign Ministry just announced that Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s Foreign Minister, would attend Munich Security Conference tonight. He will hold a “night owl” debate on Iran’s nuclear program with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt late Friday night.

The surprising last-minute decision by Iran to send Mottaki to Munich came just days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signaled Iran’s readiness to accept the IAEA proposed settlement of the Iranian nuclear program.

At the three-day annual conference in Munich, top world politicians will discuss security issues in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. Iranian senior officials had in the past attended the conference, but this year the Iranian foreign minister did not register to attend until hours before leaving Iran.