End Of Days News
Grave concern was voiced in Jerusalem over the upbeat accounts appearing
Thursday, Feb. 28 of the six-power talks with Iran which ended Wednesday in
Almati, Kazakhstan. A Western diplomat described the nuclear talks as “more
constructive and positive than in the past.” For the first time, said the
diplomat, “they were really focusing on the proposal on the table” although he
admitted that Iran’s willingness to negotiate seriously will not become clear
until an April meeting.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi chimed in
buoyantly that the talks had reached “a turning point” this week and “a
breakthrough was within reach.”
Intelligence sources following the Kazakhstan negotiations told debkafile that all this optimism is
far from representing the true content of the session and no practical
discussion took place on “proposals on the table.” The participants did not
delude themselves that the next round of nuclear talks with Iran scheduled for
April would achieve any more progress on the disposal of Iran’s nuclear program
than the current session. In any case, Tehran is determined not to budge from
its hard and fast position on this issue – if ever – before the Iranian
presidential election in the coming June.
The sudden outburst of Western-Iranian optimism is seen in Jerusalem as part
of a US administration effort to soften Israel’s resistance to the continued
operation of the underground plant at Fordo which is turning out 20-percent
enriched uranium that is easily converted to weapons grade material.
A softer Israeli approach would lighten the nuclear cloud hanging over the
meetings Barack Obama is scheduled to hold with Israeli leaders during his visit
to Jerusalem on March 20.
Israel’s categorical demand is for the immediate
closure of the Fordo plant.
But this is not what the US delegation put before
the Iranian negotiators in Kazakhstan. Instead of demanding the plant’s
shutdown, the American proposal was for Iran to suspend 20 percent uranium
enrichment in a way that “constrains the ability to quickly resume operations”
there.
This is a major letdown for Israel’s expectations and for Binyamin
Netanyahu. No wonder the Iranian foreign minister was upbeat.
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