Iran Live: The Regime Responds to the Nuclear Talks
Monday, April 8, 2013 at 9:29
A vision of the nuclear talks, 40 years from now
1745 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Labour activists Khaled Hosseini, Vafa Ghaderi, and Hamed Mahmoudnejad have been released from prison.
1705 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Writers Association members and friends of detained blogger and physician Mehdi Khazali have launched a fast, coinciding with the 100th day of Dr. Khazali’s hunger strike.
Khazali, the son of a famous Ayatollah, has been arrested on several occasions, most recently in October 2012.
1605 GMT: Mismanagement Watch. Twenty MPs have filed a complaint to Parliament's Article 90 Commission against the Bonyad Shahid trust for insufficient medical care and mismanagement.
0905 GMT: Economy Watch. Mohammad Nahavandian, the head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce: has warned that high rates of inflation have reduced buying power by half or even two-thirds.
0855 GMT: All the President's Men. The Treasury has warned Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi, who claims leadership of the Social Security Funds, that he has no right to sign orders for expenditure and should stop withdrawals immediately.
Mortazavi is currently on trial, accused of complicity in the abuse and killing of three post-election protesters in Kahrizak detention centre in summer 2009.
President Ahmadinejad has repeatedly defied court orders since last year to remove Mortazavi as head of the Funds.
0825 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Joanna Paraszczuk writes....
Ali Akbar Velayati, the Supreme Leader's advisor on international affairs, has further emphasised the regime line on the nuclear talks --- enrichment and peaceful nuclear energy are Iran's rights, the West has not been honest with Tehran in the past regarding enrichment, and all decisions on enrichment are made by Ayatollah Khamenei.
Velayati noted that Iran had suspended enrichment during "reformist periods" --- referring to 2004 when then-President Mohammad Khatami halted enrichment as a goodwill gesture during talks with the EU-3 of France, Britain, and Germany. He said the decision, as well as that over the peaceful use of nuclear energy today, were both determined by the policies of the Supreme Leader.
Velayati said that the 5+1 Powers and the international community are compelled to recognize and admit Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy. That right was backed by both the Iranian people and the Supreme Leader, he added.
Velayati also reflected Iran's concern that, should it stop enriching uranium, the West will not supply it with the fuel it requires for its Tehran Research Reactor, as he accused the West of failing to be honest with the Islamic Republic in the past.
Velayati's comments echo those of Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, following the first round of Almaty talks in February.
Jalili noted that Iran had told the West in the past that it was willing to cooperate to obtain 20% enriched uranium for the research reactor. However, when the West did not respond, Iran moved ahead with enrichment.
Velyati said the stock of 20% uranim was part of Iran's strategic wealth, which nobody could ship to another country. Others had carried out similar enrichment to Iran, he added, but Iran's activities were carried out under surveillance. He chided the US and Europe, "If there is even a tiny deviation, they make a big deal out of it and tell the entire world."
0725 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Egyptian Front). In a hitch to improving Iranian-Egyptian relations, Egypt's Minister of Tourism Hesham Zaazou has decided to suspend flights from Tehran until the second half of June, reconsidering a recent move to promote tourism between the two countries.
The first charter flight from Iran since 1979 landed at Aswan International Airport on 30 March, carrying 45 Iranian tourists.
However, some sections of the Egyptian public have denounced the influx of Shia Muslims from Iran, threatening protests.
0640 GMT: The Battle Within (Nuclear Edition). Joanna Paraszczuk picks up some interesting domestic signals in President Ahmadinejad's reaction to the nuclear talks....
On the surface, the President's response echoes the regime's defiance --- Western sanctions are "so ineffective that the enemy should be ashamed":
Even though the enemy has imposed sanctions, these sanctions are ineffective, and they should be ashamed…there is nothing that is greater in Iran than the Islamic Revolution and the Holy Defense [the 1980s Iran-Iraq War].
Ahmadinejad said that these events proved show that Iran can make "other great efforts" to exploit its economic, human and cultural potential.
The President also commented on the elections, saying that every Iranian should strive to participate, and that the atmosphere should be "joyful, fraternal and lawful".
Paraszczuk dissects the remarks:
0620 GMT: Nuclear Watch. There is a pattern to the response of the Iranian leadership, as seen in State and semi-official media, at the end of high-level nuclear talks --- such as this weekend's discussions with the 5+1 Powers in Kazakhstan.
There is an initial period of near-silence, while the Iranian delegation is debriefed, the talks are reviewed, and political angles are considered. Then, after 24-36 hours, a line begins to emerge.
So it proves this morning, with the regime's pronouncement: We want talks to continue, but full sanctions relief and recognition of Iran's right to enrich uranium are non-negotiable.
Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, offers a pair of illuminating articles. First, a Fars Persian editorial gives "Reasons for Western Efforts to Prevent Clear Results in the Nuclear Talks".
Fars said Iran emerged as the clear winner from Kazakhstan, because Tehran refused to allow the West to "impose its demands on the Iranian side". The editorial accused Western political and media factions of doing their utmost to prevent tangible results, while the Iranian side stuck to its strategy of resistance and insistence on its inalienable nuclear rights.
Fars said that the West had made a gradual transition from making extreme demands towards the possibility of considering Iran's position, which showed that Tehran had more power in the discussions. However, so far the West had still refused to back down on some of its demands, including Iran's right to enrich.
Then Fars English, aimed at a Western audience, features the comment of MP Mohammad Firouzi --- who represents the Natanz area, site of Iran's primary enrichment facility --- that Iran will not "give in to Western demands".
"The western countries believe that acceptance of their demands is the meaning of progress in the Iran-Group 5+1 negotiations, but Iran will not relinquish its rightful nuclear demands under the West's pressures," Firouzi said.
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