Iran draws red line round enrichment at nuke talk

ISTANBUL: Iran gave no sign of making concessions to world powers bent on coaxing it to curb its nuclear programme at talks on Friday, saying it would not discuss suspending sensitive uranium enrichment.

Western leaders suspect Iran is working covertly to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran says its atomic energy programme is peaceful. The two days of talks in Istanbul are a follow-up to talks last month in Geneva, the first held in more than a year.

Impatient with what some analysts have called Iran’s zigzag diplomacy, the powers are looking for a clear sign from Tehran that it is ready to engage in a way that helps engender trust, even if there is no substantive progress.

Iran’s National Security Council issued a statement, quoted by Iranian television, saying the first session of talks on Friday was held in a “positive atmosphere”. Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is the council’s secretary general.

One of Jalili’s aides in Istanbul drew a red line round its enrichment activities during the meeting. Uranium enriched to a low degree yields fuel for electricity or, if refined to a very high level, the fissile core of a nuclear bomb.

“We will not allow any talks linked to freezing or suspending Iran’s enrichment activities to be discussed at the meeting in Istanbul,” Abolfazl Zohrevand said.

“So far this issue has not been discussed, has not been raised or mentioned by the other party,” Zohrevand said.

“Iran’s nuclear rights cannot be discussed.”

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton heads the delegations representing six big powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

“No one is expecting any big breakthrough, but Iran needs to show that it is interested in engaging in a wider process,” said one diplomat as the opening session began.

Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West has escalated in the past year, with the United Nations imposing new sanctions and Western states rejecting a revised proposal for Iran to swap some of its fuel abroad as too little, too late.

“It is very important that Iran takes those negotiations seriously, that it is prepared to discuss its nuclear programme in detail,” Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague said during a news conference in New Zealand.

“These negotiations are a test of Iran’s willingness to enter into, and to keep to its international obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and under successive resolutions of the UN Security Council,” Hague said.

Iran has ignored Security Council resolutions demanding it suspend enrichment, with trade and other benefits offered in return, and grant unfettered access for UN nuclear inspectors.

The prospect of an Iranian atom bomb fans fears of a broader Middle East conflict should the United States or Israel opt to attack it, a mooted last-ditch option should diplomacy fail.

BACK TO OLD OFFERS

The first session of two hours on Friday morning ended with the two sides looking for common ground.

An EU official said Ashton was to meet Jalili shortly to discuss how to advance the talks, with the aim of persuading him to agree to a series of bilateral meetings, especially with the United States, with whom Iran has had no relations for 30 years.

“The existing offer from 2008 to build trust is still on the table. Essentially we will reiterate that,” the Western diplomat said. He was referring to a package of economic, political and other incentives offered to the Islamic Republic if it agrees to mothball enrichment-related activities.

That package, an enhanced version of one spurned by Iran in 2006, held out prospects for civil nuclear cooperation and trade in civil aircraft, agriculture, energy and high technology.

In their search for an opening, the powers may go back to proposals for a nuclear fuel swap, whereby Iran would part with low-enriched uranium (LEU) in exchange for highly processed fuel to keep a Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes running.

The goal, for the six powers, was to divest Iran of enough LEU to delay it accumulating enough for a nuclear weapon while negotiations proceeded on a broader solution to the crisis.

The idea was first tentatively agreed in October 2009 only for Iran to back out some weeks later. Since then, Iran’s known LEU stockpile has doubled and it has begun enriching uranium up to 20 percent fissile purity for conversion into reactor fuel.

Weapons-grade uranium requires 90 per cent enrichment. So for the powers, any future swap would have to go further, involving much more than the 1,200 kg of LEU agreed in 2009.

Iran has indicated readiness to revive only the original deal.

A Western diplomat said there was an impasse as Iran was setting conditions, most notably a suspension of sanctions.

“We are not going to start talking about any new deal on TRR (Tehran Research Reactor) if they keep insisting on pre-conditions,” the diplomat said.

Blair 'regrets' Iraq war dead

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has told an inquiry into Britain's role in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that he profoundly regretted the loss of life in the conflict.

His remarks to the inquiry, the second time he has appeared before the investigation, sparked angry shouts of "too late" from dead soldiers' families attending the proceedings in London.

Blair said that his comments at his first hearing last year when he said that he had "no regret" had been misunderstood.

"That was taken as my meaning that I had no regrets about the loss of life and that was never my meaning or my intention," he said.

"I wanted to make that clear that of course I regret deeply and profoundly the loss of life, whether from our own armed forces, those of other nations, the civilians who helped people in Iraq or the Iraqis themselves."

His words sparked an angry response from the packed public gallery, where a number of relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq were sitting.

Several shouted out that his words were "too late" and two women stood up, deliberately turning their backs to Blair, before they were asked to be quiet.

"Your lies killed my son, I hope you can live with yourself," shouted Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon was killed in 2006 while serving in Basra, southern Iraq, as Blair left the hearing.

Outside the central London venue, dozens of anti-war demonstrators gathered held up banners calling Blair a liar and chanting "Tony Blair to The Hague," where war crimes tribunals are held.

Bush pledge

Earlier, Blair told the inquiry that he had privately assured George Bush, the US president at the time, that "you can count on us", eight months before the invasion.

While Blair stopped short of saying he had promised Bush unconditional military support in early 2002, as critics claim, he said he had always agreed that Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, had to be dealt with.

"I accept entirely I was going to be with America in handling this," he told the London inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq war, describing conversations between himself and Bush in summer 2002.

"What I was saying to President Bush was very clear and simple, you can count on us, we are going to be with you in tackling this. But there are difficulties."

The private note to Bush remain secrets, despite calls for it to be published by John Chilcot, the inquiry chairman and a former civil servant.

'Up for it'

The timing of the decision for military action is an important issue for opponents of the war, who accuse Blair and Bush of being set on invasion regardless of its legality or whether it had backing from the UN.

Blair, who sent 45,000 British troops as part of the US-led invasion in March 2003, was making his second appearance at the inquiry after being recalled to clarify evidence he gave at a hearing in January last year.

He repeated his message from his first appearance that the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US had changed the calculus of risk, meaning they had to deal with Saddam as he posed a threat to the world and was refusing to comply with the UN.

Facing a far more forensic probe of decisions he had taken, Blair said regime change in Iraq was on the cards immediately after the September 11 attacks unless Saddam changed tack.

"If it became the only way to deal with this issue then we were going to be up for it," Blair said, adding he had persuaded Bush to seek UN backing.

Advice disregarded

A statement he gave to the inquiry also revealed he had disregarded advice from the government's top lawyer, given in January 2003, warning an invasion of Iraq would be illegal without a specific UN resolution.

Peter Goldsmith, the attorney general, only changed his mind shortly before the invasion, and Blair said he viewed the earlier advice as "provisional" and believed it would change when Goldsmith became aware of the UN negotiations.

The decision to go to war was one of the most controversial episodes of Blair's 10-year premiership which ended in 2007, leading to massive protests and accusations he had deliberately misled the public over the reasons for the invasion.

Alistair Campbell, Blair's former communications chief and one of his closest advisers until he resigned in late 2003, said people still felt angry about the war.

"Some people who actually really liked Tony Blair when he became prime minister ... they will never forgive him for Iraq," he told Sky News.

The inquiry, which began in November 2009, was set up by Blair's successor Gordon Brown to learn lessons from the conflict and is not designed to assign guilt or blame to any individual.

Hostility over Iraq continues to dog Blair, 57, now an envoy for the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers - the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN.

PA bans West Bank Tunisia rally

Palestinian Authority(PA) security forces have scuttled a rally in the West Bank, planned to show solidarity for the uprising in Tunisia, the French daily Le Monde has reported.

The rally on Wednesday was denied permission by the security forces.

Le Monde reported that a few dozen Palestinians who arrived nevertheless in the square in Ramallah, where the rally was to take place, found that members of the ruling Fatah party had chosen the same time and place to stage a demonstration in support of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

It was not clear whose demonstration was planned first.

Benjamin Barthe, a correspondent for Le Monde, said that a police cordon around the square and “the presence among the demonstrators of many mukhabarat [secret police] officers left little doubt about the Palestinian Authority's intention to prevent any expression of solidarity with the Jasmine Revolution," in Tunisia, which led the president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, to flee into exile.

A young demonstrator waving a Tunisian flag was assaulted by PA forces, according to the report.

Ghassan Khatib, a PA spokesman, said the police regretted the incident "if it happened".

The police promised to investigate any complaint upon receiving one, Khatib said.

The uprising in Tunisia has inspired dissent across the Arab world and sparked widespread protests.

Blair to face Iraq inquiry again

Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, will appear before an inquiry into the Iraq war to face further interrogation over his decision to join the US-led invasion in 2003.

Blair will appear before a five-member inquiry panel in London on Friday to clarify his earlier evidence detailing the reasons for joining the war.

There have been widespread doubts over the war's legality.

During his first appearance before the panel in January last year, the former PM, who sent 45,000 troops as part of the invasion, said he had no regrets about the military action in Iraq. He said Saddam Hussein, Iraq's erstwhile ruler, had been a threat to the world who had to be removed or disarmed.

Blair acknowledged that intelligence about Iraq's stockpile of weapons was false. But he said he led the country into war because he couldn't take the risk of Iraq reconstituting its weapons programme.

The US and UK had gone to war, saying Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction" - an accusation that later proved to be unfounded.

Blair's steadfast defence of his decision to join the war has angered some of the relatives of the 179 British soldiers killed in Iraq.

'Misled the public'

The decision to go to war was one of the most controversial episodes of the ex-prime minister's 10-year premiership, which ended in 2007. It led to massive protests and accusations he had deliberately misled the public over the reasons for the invasion.

Blair denied such claims and rejected suggestions that he had promised George Bush, the then-US president, military support in 2002, months before attempts to secure United Nations backing for the invasion had foundered.

The Iraq Inquiry is not a trial, but has the stated aim of learning lessons from the UK's involvement in Iraq.

Set up by Blair's successor Gordon Brown, it began in November 2009 and is headed by former civil servant John Chilcot.

"As we begin to write our report, there are a few remaining areas where we need to clarify exactly what happened," Chilcot said on Tuesday.

The ex-prime minister's six-hour appearance in January last year has been the highlight of the probe which has heard from a host of senior military and political figures from Britain and abroad.

Blair is one of a small number of witnesses to have been recalled.

Shifting land slides in Rio jenario

Iran nuclear talks set to resume

Six world powers will attempt to persuade Iran to rein in its nuclear programme as talks take place in Turkey, but there is little expectation of tangible results beyond an agreement on a framework for further negotiations.

"We're not expecting any big breakthroughs but we want to see a constructive process emerge that ... leads to Iran engaging with the international community in a credible process and addressing the international community's concerns about its nuclear programme," Mark Toner, a US state department spokesman, said ahead of Friday's talks.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany have said that they believe Iran's uranium enrichment process is a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying it is developing the the technology to meet its civilian energy needs.

The standoff over the country's nuclear programme has escalated in the past year, with the United Nations imposing new sanctions and the US and its allies rejecting a revised proposal for Iran to exchange low-enrichment uranium for nuclear fuel from abroad.

Sanctions issue

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's representative at the talks, said that the lifting of the "counterproductive" sanctions should be on the table on Friday.

"The nuclear programme must be at the heart of the discussions and the problems that have not yet been resolved concerning it," Lavrov said at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart.

"But there's not only one topic for this meeting, the lifting of sanctions on Iran must also be on the agenda."

However, Toner dismissed Lavrov's remarks.

"I think that UN Security Council Resolution 1929 stipulates what Iran needs to comply with in order to have those sanctions lifted," he said.

The US has raised the possibility of harsher unilateral sanctions if Iran fails to comply with the demands of the six powers.

Going into the Istanbul talks, Iranian officials said they were ready to discuss reviving the idea of the swap agreement based on one brokered last year with Brazil and Turkey in Tehran.

Toner said the United States was willing to discuss an updated fuel swap proposal, if it reflected the progress Tehran has made on uranium enrichment in the two years since the idea was floated.

Iran defiant

On the eve of the talks, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, was defiant, telling a cheering crowd that Tehran would not back down on the issue of its nuclear programme.

"They say: 'We want negotiation' ... You are free to choose the path (of either cooperation or confrontation), but bear in mind that by adopting the old path (of confrontation), you will face a more scandalous defeat," he said.

"You could not stop us from being nuclear ... The Iranian nation will not retreat an inch. The nuclear issue is over from the Iranian point of view."

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also delivered an aggresive message, saying Iran's enrichment activities would continue at an underground facility at Fordow, near the city of Qom, even if its nuclear sites were attacked.

Korea breakthrough as Seoul agrees to talks with North

SEOUL: South Korea agreed on Thursday to a North Korean offer of high-level military talks, a major breakthrough in the crisis on the peninsula that improves the prospect of renewed aid-for-disarmament negotiations.

Hours after US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, meeting in Washington, jointly expressed concern about North Korea’s nuclear program, Pyongyang bowed to Seoul’s demands for talks about two deadly attacks last year.

Washington and Beijing have argued that North-South dialogue is a prerequisite to a resumption of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.

In 2009, Pyongyang walked out of the aid-for-disarmament talks, under which it previously agreed to abandon its nuclear programs, pronouncing them dead.

While Washington welcomed the possibility of North-South military talks, it made clear Pyongyang must take significant, if unspecified, actions before six-party talks could resume.

A South Korean defence ministry spokesman said it had not been decided whether the inter-Korean talks would be held at the ministerial level, as suggested by Pyongyang in a dispatch to the South Korean capital.

A unification ministry official said Pyongyang had accepted Seoul’s demands to specifically discuss the sinking of its warship Cheonan in March, which killed 46 sailors, and the North’s Nov. 23 attack on an island, which killed four people.

The attacks, along with the North’s revelations of advances in a uranium enrichment program that opened a second route to making a nuclear bomb along with its plutonium work, pushed tensions on the peninsula to their highest level in years.

“The government also plans to propose high-ranking talks on denuclearization,” the defence ministry spokesman said, adding Seoul had agreed to the North’s proposal for preliminary talks to prepare for the high-level talks.

As part of its demands for inter-Korean dialogue, Seoul said North Korea must show sincerity on denuclearization, as agreed under a 2005 deal.

North Korea has used its nuclear program to gain leverage in talks over the past two decades that produced two deals meant to compensate Pyongyang with economic aid for ending it.

SUMMIT PRESSURE

Pyongyang has been seeking talks since the start of the year, but Seoul had rejected Pyongyang’s overtures as insincere propaganda, saying the North was trying only to win aid.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week held out the possibility of a resumption of six-party talks if North Korea ceased provocations and met its obligations.

While welcoming the plans for North-South military talks, Mark Toner, a US State Department spokesman, said the United States wanted to see concrete action from North Korea before resuming six-party talks.

“We view it as a positive sign,” Toner told reporters.

“It’s something that helps ease tensions in the region. We still believe that North Korea has a ways to go before we can engage in meaningful six-party talks.”

Last week a senior US official gave the most explicit list to date of what Washington wants from Pyongyang to resume the wider talks: the return of international nuclear inspectors to the North and a halt to its nuclear and missile tests.

Moon Hong-sik of the South’s Institute for National Security Strategy said Wednesday’s Hu-Obama summit may have pushed the North into submitting to Seoul’s demands.

“North Korea understands that it must have North-South dialogue first before it can resume six-party talks,” he said.

“But there is still a long way to go, because it still has to prove its sincerity and apologize for last year’s provocations.”

A joint statement issued by Obama and Hu at their summit agreed on the importance of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and on the need to implement agreements reached earlier by six-party talks on North Korea’s programs.

The United States and its allies South Korea and Japan have been pressing China, North Korea’s economic and diplomatic backer, to do more to rein in Pyongyang’s behavior and to nudge the North back to six-party talks.

North Korea says its shelling of Yeonpyeong island was provoked by South Korea firing live ammunition from there into disputed waters in a military drill. It has denied the South’s accusation that it sank the Cheonan.

Both the United States and South Korea say Pyongyang’s revelations last year about its uranium enrichment program show it is insincere about denuclearizing. The North says the uranium program is for peaceful purposes.

South Korean Deputy Defence Minister Chang Kwang-il said North Korea had asked Seoul to select a convenient date and venue for the proposed military talks, Yonhap reported. The last meeting of defence ministers took place in Pyongyang in November 2007. – Reuters