Decision time for US on Iran

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-02-110614.html



Decision time for US on Iran
By Gholamali Khoshroo
Jun 11, '14

Nuclear talks between Iranian and American delegations were held yesterday on (June 10) in the Swiss city of Geneva. Before the beginning of the negotiations, Abbas Araqchi, a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator, had emphasized that in order for the nuclear talks to reach a solid result, the Western side of the negotiations would have to make difficult decisions.

1. It is noteworthy that the United States is the country that has already imposed many unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic. As a result, it was necessary for Iran to directly talk to the United States with regard to outstanding issues, so that there would be fewer problems to be tackled in the forthcoming high-ranking nuclear negotiations in the Austrian capital city of Vienna, where negotiating parties are supposed to come up with a final agreement on Iran's nuclear energy program.

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2. Of course, the American side has its own concerns, but Iran has so far taken a lot of confidence building measures in order to prove that it has no plan to take non-peaceful advantage of nuclear energy. Iran has even emphasized that it considers military application of nuclear energy legally prohibited and religiously forbidden (haram). Therefore, the Islamic Republic is ready to come clear over transparency of its nuclear energy program provided that the other negotiating parties will clearly recognize Iran's nuclear tights.

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3. The United States' approach to the Middle East has been very costly during the past 15 years. Now, if Washington is really determined to go on with a policy of interaction, development and countering extremism, the only way for doing this is to engage in constructive interaction with Iran and respect the country's rights. In this regard, there is no doubt that the Islamic Republic of Iran will naturally take every necessary step to prove peaceful nature, transparency and constructive quality of its nuclear activities.