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The Difficulty of Talking to Iran

[New York Times] Volker Perthes - American and Iranian leaders have signaled that they're prepared to talk. That's good. But getting results may prove to be more difficult than they imagine. The fact is that the first round is unlikely to be successful. The positions and expectations on both sides, and their notion of who should take the first step, are too far apart. Wasn't Washington's readiness to participate officially in the nuclear talks a tangible step, I asked a senior Iranian official of the reformist persuasion? "Not really," my interlocutor responded. "It is only the correction of a mistake. So the ball is now in the U.S. court." American officials will certainly see this differently. Up to now, Iran has said that it is prepared to negotiate, but not to give up enrichment or any other part of its nuclear program. The "5 plus 1" group (the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany), however, sees Iranian enrichment as the core problem. The Security Council has passed five resolutions demanding that Iran suspend enrichment. The writer is director of SWP, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
2009-05-22 06:00:00
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