Global powers meet Iran officials to curb nuclear programme

Moscow: Global powers including the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany pushed Iran to address the pressing issue of uranium enrichment to a point of producing nuclear weapons at talks starting in Moscow on Monday. The talks are a part of the global effort to persuade Iran from going ahead with nuclear programme and avert a probable disaster in the Middle East. Israel has already threatened to take drastic step of attacking Iran if the latter did not give up its nuclear ambitions and the global oil markets could bear an irreversible damage if the regional tension escalates into a full-fledged war.

But the worrying fact is that no agreement could be reached during the two rounds of talks held in the last two months between the world powers and Iran and the results of the latest meet could be decisive in charting the future course of action in the volatile Middle East. Political quarters believe the more the delay in reaching a consensus on 'Iran's nuclear programme' issue, the more time the Ahmadinejad regime will get to develop its nuclear weapon. The last two rounds of talks, one may mention, were held after a gap of over a year.

A European Union (EU) diplomat said the international community was determined to go the distance to pursue the case as long as Iran shows a serious commitment. EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton would stay in Moscow as long as the situation demands to pursue the issue, it is learnt. But, even then, time has a limitation.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, had earlier promised Ashton that Tehran was willing to address a proposal for an interim deal that would require it to suspend uranium enrichment with immediate effect. This was a clear improvement over Jalili's stand last month when he ignored the proposal altogether. But he told the Iranian parliament that no compromises would be made on the uranium enrichment programme, clearly flummoxing the Western powers.

Iran also had a problem with the UN's nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), over a proposal which would allow the latter to increase inspection of the former's nuclear facilities. These two issues reduce confidence of diplomats that the Moscow talks would be successful. The mood was similar in Tehran.

Diplomacy can not be suspended for it would make the collision courses more prominent but at the same time, it has failed to make any breakthrough so far. The US has expressed its dissatisfaction with outcome of the talks and threatened to impose even harsher sanctions on Iran. Russia, although is against imposing sanctions on Iran, but would not welcome a nuclear power emerging in its neighbourhood.

Current financial crisis world over might suspend chances of a war breaking out in the region and Iran, too, would want the sanctions imposed on her to be eased. This calls for diplomatic pursuit and it must continue to ensure that things do not go out of control in the sensitive Middle East region.

OneIndia News