The US yesterday said it will send its number two diplomat to Geneva to meet senior Iranian officials tomorrow and Tuesday in what appeared an effort to break a logjam in wider negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, who led secret US-Iranian negotiations that helped bring about a November 24 interim nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers, will head a US delegation. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the primary US negotiator with Iran, will accompany him on a team that will include senior White House national security staffers.
The most recent round of nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers in Vienna last month ran into difficulties, with each side accusing the other of having unrealistic demands in negotiations aimed at curbing Tehran’s atomic programme in exchange for an end to economic sanctions.
The US decision to head to Geneva and meet with the Iranian delegation, which a senior US official said might be led by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, appeared to reflect Washington’s desire to try to break the deadlock.
“In order to really seriously test whether we can reach a diplomatic solution with Iran on its nuclear programme, we believe we need to engage in very active and very aggressive diplomacy,” the senior US official told Reuters.
“We’re at a critical moment,” the US official added. “We’ve always said that we would engage bilaterally with the Iranians if it can help advance our efforts, in active coordination with the P5+1.”
The United States is set to join the other members of the six-power negotiating group known as the P5+1 – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – and Iran in Vienna for a full round of negotiations June 16-20. The Vienna talks are co-ordinated by EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.
Robert Einhorn, a former top US non-proliferation official, said he viewed the Burns trip as an effort to meet what appears to be an extremely challenging deadline of July 20 to secure a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
In order to really seriously test if we can reach a diplomatic solution with Iran, we believe we need to engage in very active and very aggressive diplomacy
“There were growing concerns, I think, on all sides that the July 20 target date was becoming increasingly difficult to meet,” said Einhorn, now at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.
“Because the engagement at Bill Burns’ level proved instrumental in reaching the interim agreement in November, I think both sides thought it would be useful to try that channel again,” he added.
Although the United States has pursued the six-power negotiating track with Iran, any workable deal will likely have to be based on a bilateral agreement between Washington and Tehran. The United States cut off ties with Iran during a hostage crisis shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
High-level bilateral meetings between the US and Iran, virtually unthinkable in years past, have become almost routine on the sidelines of the nuclear talks with Tehran, which began in Geneva last October and moved to Vienna in February.
In announcing the Burns trip, the State Department stressed that “these consultations will take place in the context of the P5+1 nuclear negotiations led by EU High Representative Cathy Ashton”.
This appeared to be an effort to quell any unhappiness on the part of other members of the group, some of whom were displeased last year that they were not fully informed of the details of the secret US-Iran talks led by Burns.
The senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the talks this were not negotiations.
“These are really consultations to exchange views in advance of the next negotiating round in Vienna,” the official said.
The official said Washington was being open about the bilateral consultations with Iran “unlike before when it needed to be kept very discreet to give it the best chance of success”.
Iran will hold separate bilateral meetings with Russian negotiators in Rome on Wednesday and Thursday, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported yesterday.
“We haven’t yet seen the kind of realism on the Iranian side that we need to see or seen them make some of the tough choices we’re going to have to see,” the official said.