Iran Nuclear Talks Need Reset

The nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 (representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, led by the European Union) held in Kazakhstan April 5-6, ended with a familiar refrain: Iran unwilling to concede to the West’s demands on its nuclear program absent both recognition of its right to enrich uranium and a roadmap for the lifting of sanctions.  

Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen covered the Almaty talks, which were reportedly more detailed and substantive from previous meetings, including a “30–45-minute back and forth between the lead US negotiator at the talks, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, and Iran’s lead negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in which Sherman asked Jalili a series of specific questions and he responded."

While some may consider it "progress" that the US and Iran are talking across a large table about their familiar positions on the nuclear file in a forum that began in 2006, it might instead be time to acknowledge the obvious: The current framework for negotiations is failing.

While it may be baffling that the so-called right to enrichment has become a cause celebre for Iran, it is equally bewildering that until now the P5+1 and Iran have been unable to draft a compromise statement that allows Iran to save face and gets the negotiations over this hurdle. The elements are all there: Iran has a right to enrich as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in the context of Iran’s full adherence to the NPT, as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself noted the IAEA's role on March 21; recognizing Khamenei’s fatwa not to develop nuclear weapons; and Iran’s willingness to pause enrichment while the NPT safeguards procedures ("confidence-building measures") are put in place.