Moscow. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov). - Iran is to conduct a difficult dialog with the EU on the Iranian nuclear program.
The talks will be resumed on December 21 in Vienna and focus on one subject - the Europeans will offer Moscow's initiative to Tehran -- to take the process of uranium enrichment outside the country. In the opinion of the majority of experts, such a variant would undoubtedly contribute to restoring trust in the Iranian nuclear program as one designed to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
What position will Iran take at the talks? Is Tehran prepared for a compromise?
So far, Tehran has been insisting on its legitimate right to produce nuclear fuel for its own nuclear power plant situated on its territory. Iran has rejected all accusations of allegedly using the peaceful nuclear program as a cover for creating a nuclear bomb. The Iranians see projects to create joint uranium enrichment ventures in third countries as a direct threat to the development of national science. Last Sunday, Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani stated that "the current problem between the U.S.A. and the West on the one hand, and Iran on the other, is not a nuclear bomb. These countries want Iran to remain, like some of its neighbors in the region, a consumer of technologies provided, not to produce these technologies." Perhaps, the talks will be a success, if the sides find a solution that would not raise obstacles to Iranian specialists' research, on whatever territory.
The current round of the Vienna talks may turn out to be decisive before the adoption of the final verdict on the Iranian nuclear file. In March next year, the IAEA Board of Governors must decide whether to submit the Iranian nuclear file to the U.N. Security Council, as demanded by the U.S.A., or close it.
However, in experts' opinion, the next round of Iran-EU talks beginning this week will not yield any tangible results. In that case, it is beyond doubt that the U.S.A. and the West intend to put pressure on Russia, which has been supporting Iran's peaceful nuclear program, not to use its right of veto during the examination of the imposition of international sanctions against Iran.
A special - and currently, increasingly prominent - place has traditionally been allotted to Russia in the solution to the Iranian nuclear problem. Russia supports Iran's peaceful nuclear program and actively cooperates with it in the military, security, nuclear energy and other fields.
The prevailing opinion is that Russia should become the country where a joint uranium enrichment venture should be created and that respective offers have been made to Iran. Admittedly, Iranian parliament speaker Golamali Haddad-Adel, who visited Moscow last week, told the press that "Tehran has not received such offers from Moscow but would welcome talks on this subject".
Tehran does not conceal that it considers the forthcoming talks to be "important and difficult" and Iran's future nuclear policy will be built depending on the results of these talks.
Upholding Iran's right to create a full nuclear cycle, a few days ago Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad signed the law denying international inspectors access to Iranian nuclear facilities in the event of the aggravation of the international controversy over its nuclear program. It should be recalled that so far inspectors have been actively working, without encountering any obstacles.
Under this law, the Iranian government must take respective measures in case the IAEA submits the conflict over Iran's nuclear program to the examination of the U.N. Security Council. It is hard to say whether this law will be really effective. However, it is clear that by signing this law President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated the possibility of Iran suspending the implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Meanwhile, this Protocol obliges signatories to ensure the transparency of their nuclear technologies.
In the opinion of Russian sources close to the negotiating process, Moscow's position on the Iranian nuclear issue will remain intact - the IAEA must remain the main mechanism of solving the Iranian nuclear issue. However, the sources state that it would be advisable for Tehran to remember that apart from the rights granted by the IAEA regime, there are also obligations.
