MOSCOW, November 21 (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — As the November 24 deadline for a final agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 group on the Iranian nuclear issue draws closer, it is clear that the United States is not interested in coming to a resolution and freeing Iran from sanctions, experts stated Friday at a conference at Rossiya Segodnya press center.
The final round of these talks between Iran, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Germany began in Vienna on Tuesday. However, the United States does not seem to be contributing to coming to an agreement, Director of the Center for Contemporary Iranian Studies Rajab Safarov said at the conference.
"It is obvious that [the United States] is afraid to free Iran from sanctions. [The United States] is not afraid of Iran, it's afraid of the reaction of its main partners, Israel and Saudi Arabia, some Gulf monarchies. It's afraid because of the serious consequences from the military-industrial complex, from the global financial oligarchic clan," Safarov said.
"These issues do not allow the United States, [US President] Barack Obama to come to an understanding on the Iranian nuclear program," he added.
Russia's Islamic Committee leader Geidar Dzhemal agreed with Safarov, saying that "as a result of the midterm elections and the coming… of the Republican majority in Congress, Obama lost the maneuver, and no matter what he wanted, everything associated with him and his course arouses great aversion… and this [US backing of Iranian nuclear agreement] won't take place under any circumstances."
"My expectations from the final round of negotiations of the P5+1 [with Iran] are quite pessimistic as the chief negotiator — the United States — is not interested in resolving the issue. The United States and the West are not interested in reaching an agreement, they are only interested in weakening the political system in Iran," Rajab Safarov added.
Iran's role as seen by United States
"The United States needs a strong Iran, but Iran as an opponent, Iran, which takes the place of the USSR," the Islamic Committee leader stated. This role of an opponent can be much more easily explained with the nuclear issue unresolved. That's why the United States shows its unwillingness to solve the nuclear problem in many ways.
One of these ways was voiced by Rajab Safarov. "Just a few days ago, Barack Obama extended the unilateral sanctions against Iran for another year. If he was going to join those countries that were going to sign the agreement… it probably would not have happened," the director of the Center for Contemporary Iranian Studies said.
As for the roles, played by the United States and Iran at the talks in Vienna, Head of the Caucasus section of the CIS Countries Institute Vladimir Yevseev said that "the negotiation process is very complicated. Both sides are trying to play from a position of strength. The United States believes that through the threat of new sanctions it could put pressure on Iran, and it would agreed to all that [the United States] offer. On the other hand, in Iran there is such a view that Barack Obama is very weak… If you want to find a compromise, it is necessary to forget about the position of strength."
Yevseev also noted that "the United States has decided to substitute everyone [at the talks]. They forgot that there are six international mediators on the Iranian nuclear crisis. Nevertheless, the United States have started to push Russia, China, and even Europeans out of the way."
The combination of the two mentioned above factors, namely unwillingness of the United States to solve the Iranian nuclear issue and the US tendency to push out other mediators from the negotiation process could lead to a very long period of uncertainty and tensions around the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. And taking that into consideration, the chance of reaching a final agreement in Vienna, which satisfies all parties, by November 24 is incredibly small.
