In These New Times

Tue, 06 Oct 2009

Presstv

Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton
Iran has scored a ‘big victory’ in last week’s Geneva talks with the West, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Bolton wrote on a recent meeting between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on October 5.

In his article, Bolton wrote that the meeting had a victory for Iran over the West since ‘any momentum toward stricter sanctions has been dissipated’ following the talks.

The ‘most widely touted’ outcome of the talks, according to Bolton, was the ‘agreement in principle’ to transfer low-enriched uranium to Russia for a higher enrichment level.

He said the possible agreement undercut UN Security Council resolutions which demand the suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment work.

Iran is already under three rounds of UNSC resolutions over its nuclear work. The sanctions were imposed on Iran during the tenure of the former US president George W. Bush. Bolton served as US ambassador to the United Nations between August 1, 2005 and December 9, 2006.

Last week in Geneva, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili sat with representatives of the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, known as P5+1, to discuss a wide realm of global issues based on Iran’s latest package of proposals.

The seven-and-a-half hour sit-down described productive by both sides revolved around concerns shared by Iran and the West over global issues.

During the get-together, the six party members, unlike the previous meetings, did not call on Iran to halt its nuclear activities.

In talks, Iran asked the other sides to send the country the 20 percent enriched uranium needed for a nuclear research reactor in Tehran that produces radiomedicine for cancer patients.

Russia, France and the US reportedly expressed readiness to consider the proposal.

The nuclear research reactor is just a small part of Iran’s nuclear program and the issue has nothing to do with Iran’s wide-ranging talks with group P5+1.