P5 plus 1

Do we have Ahmadinejad all wrong?

by News Sources 01.13.2011

Reza Aslan writes: Is it possible that Iran’s blustering president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, long thought to be a leading force behind some of Iran’s most hard-line and repressive policies, is actually a reformer whose attempts to liberalize, secularize, and even “Persianize” Iran have been repeatedly stymied by the country’s more conservative factions? That is the surprising [...]

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Turkey’s diplomatic persistence with Iran may pay off

by Paul Woodward 07.28.2010

The Wall Street Journal reports: Iran has pledged to stop enriching uranium to the higher grade needed for a medical research reactor if world powers agree to a fuel-swap deal it outlined earlier this year with Turkey and Brazil, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday. The offer marks the latest in an international tug-of-war [...]

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Lula’s new world order

by Paul Woodward 05.18.2010

In a world long dominated by Western powers, the global order has been one shaped by coercion. Although the twentieth century saw the end of formal colonialism — the most overt coercive system — the perpetuation of economic colonialism has meant that the United States and its allies still expect to have the final word [...]

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Gates scoffs at Iran nuclear claim

by Paul Woodward 02.06.2010

The New York Times reports: As Iran’s foreign minister met with the chief of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency here, the United States and Germany rejected Iran’s assertion that it was close to accepting an international compromise on its nuclear program. Western officials expressed deep skepticism toward Tehran’s contention that a deal was close [...]

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Iran says ready to send uranium abroad as UN wants

by Paul Woodward 02.02.2010

From the Associated Press: Iran said on Tuesday it was ready to send its uranium abroad for further enrichment as requested by the U.N. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the decision in an interview with state Iranian television. He said Iran will have “no problem” giving the West its low-enriched uranium and taking it back several [...]

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Iran praises West’s ‘realism’ on nuclear issue

by Paul Woodward 01.19.2010

Iran praises West’s ‘realism’ on nuclear issue AFP, January 19, 2010 Ian on Tuesday welcomed what it called the West’s newfound “realism” on Tehran’s nuclear programme after world powers failed to decide on new sanctions. China, meanwhile, urged flexibility on the standoff over Iran’s nuclear drive and a return to negotiations. However, Defence Minister Ahmad [...]

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Nuclear Iran: stop the clock ticking and start talking

by Paul Woodward 12.13.2009

Nuclear Iran: stop the clock ticking and start talking By Tony Karon, The National, December 12, 2009 Instead of the breakthrough he had hoped for in nuclear diplomacy with Iran, Barack Obama has allowed himself to be painted into a corner. But so, too, have his Iranian counterparts, with neither side now capable of breaking [...]

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Iran’s politics stand in the way of a nuclear deal

by Paul Woodward 11.03.2009

Iran’s politics stand in the way of a nuclear deal By Michael Slackman, New York Times, November 3, 2009 Iran’s leadership has once again equivocated after agreeing to a deal that would ease its nuclear standoff with the West. But this time, that may be as much a product of the nation’s smoldering political crisis [...]

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Why the Iranian nuclear deal was bound to fail

by Paul Woodward 11.01.2009

Why the Iranian nuclear deal was bound to fail By Tony Karon, The National, November 1, 2009 The surest sign yet that the Iranian nuclear deal is in deep trouble is its endorsement by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “A positive first step,” Mr Netanyahu called the deal. This was in marked contrast to his [...]

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Why Iran will push back on the West’s nuclear offer

by Paul Woodward 10.29.2009

Why Iran will push back on the West’s nuclear offer By Tony Karon, Time, October 29, 2009 As the world has waited for Iran’s response to the latest nuclear deal offered by the West, conventional wisdom has held that Tehran has been playing for time, testing the limits of international political resolve, and hamstrung by [...]

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Top Iran official says West’s nuclear plan a coverup for theft

by Paul Woodward 10.25.2009

Top Iran official says West’s nuclear plan a coverup for theft By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times, October 25, 2009 The powerful speaker of Iran’s parliament Saturday derided a Western-backed proposal to transfer the bulk of the country’s enriched-uranium stockpile abroad as a trick meant to rob Iran of its nuclear fuel. “My guess is [...]

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Iran delays reply on nuclear plan

by Paul Woodward 10.23.2009

Iran delays reply on nuclear plan BBC, October 23, 2009 Iran will respond to a proposed deal on its controversial nuclear programme by the middle of next week, it has told the UN’s atomic energy agency. Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei said he hoped the answer would be “positive”. The UN watchdog had suggested exporting most [...]

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Iran ‘doubts’ over nuclear deal

by Paul Woodward 10.19.2009

Iran ‘doubts’ over nuclear deal BBC, October 19, 2009 Iran appears to be backing away from a proposed deal to resolve the crisis over its nuclear programme, Iranian media reports suggest. A state TV channel said Iran wanted to import fuel for its research reactor, without sending its own enriched uranium out of the country. [...]

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Talks on Iranian reactor deal show divisions on sanctions

by Paul Woodward 10.18.2009

Talks on Iranian reactor deal show divisions on sanctions By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, October 18, 2009 A team of Obama administration officials, joined by officials from France and Russia, will begin negotiating in Vienna on Monday with Iranian diplomats over terms of an unusual deal that could remove a significant amount of Tehran’s low-enriched [...]

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Experts say Iran may be ready for a nuclear deal

by Paul Woodward 10.15.2009

Experts say Iran may be ready for a nuclear deal By Michael Slackman, New York Times, October 15, 2009 In contentious, high-stakes negotiations, deals are possible when both sides have a chance to declare victory, and that point may have been reached. “If the Iranian endgame is to keep enrichment, and if the United States’ [...]

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Russia resists U.S. position on sanctions for Iran

by Paul Woodward 10.14.2009

Russia resists U.S. position on sanctions for Iran By Mark Landler and Clifford J Levy, New York Times, October 14, 2009 Denting President Obama’s hopes for a powerful ally in his campaign to press Iran on its nuclear program, Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that threatening Tehran now with harsh new sanctions would be “counterproductive.” [...]

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Russian FM: Threats of Iran sanctions won’t work

by Paul Woodward 10.13.2009

Russian FM: Threats of Iran sanctions won’t work By Mathew Lee, AP, October 13, 2009 Russia pushed back Tuesday at U.S. efforts to threaten tough new sanctions if Iran fails to prove its nuclear program is peaceful, a setback to the Obama administration’s desire to present a united front with Moscow. After meeting with U.S. [...]

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Diplomacy in the lead on Iran nuclear issue — for now

by Paul Woodward 10.12.2009

Diplomacy in the lead on Iran nuclear issue — for now By Greg Miller and Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times, October 12, 2009 Agreement to open Iran’s hidden nuclear complex to inspection has reduced talk of military action and put diplomacy back on track — at least for a while. But even as the [...]

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Iran: Can the U.S. take ‘yes, but’ for an answer?

by Paul Woodward 10.08.2009

Iran: Can the U.S. take ‘yes, but’ for an answer? By Tony Karon, Time, October 8, 2009 The U.S. and its allies had sought to prevent Iran from achieving a “breakout” capacity — i.e., assembling sufficient civilian nuclear infrastructure to allow it to move relatively quickly to build a bomb should it choose to break [...]

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Iran’s diplomatic dexterity

by Paul Woodward 10.04.2009

Iran’s diplomatic dexterity By Paul Woodward, War in Context, October 4, 2009 The Geneva talks with Iran have been presented as a diplomatic victory and vindication of President Obama’s commitment to engagement. As Juan Cole wrote: “Barack Obama pwned Bush-Cheney in one day, and got more concessions from Iran in 7 1/2 hours than the [...]

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Iran’s brilliant chessmanship

by Paul Woodward 10.04.2009

Brilliant chessmanship By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, Washington Times, October 4, 2009 ike back-winding in a sailing race, Iran has gotten ahead of the United States and its allies that met for the nuclear talks in Geneva Thursday. Iran pulled a rabbit out of the diplomatic hat in the form of a self-disclosure to the International [...]

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Real progress with Iran

by Paul Woodward 10.03.2009

Real progress with Iran By Gary Sick, The Daily Beast, October 2, 2009 The Geneva nuclear talks were just baby steps along a long and perilous path. Still, this was a historic moment after 30 years of mutual recriminations and hyperbole. If you have any doubt that the Geneva meetings with Iran were surprisingly productive, [...]

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Iran ‘has secret nuclear arms plan’

by Paul Woodward 09.30.2009

Iran ‘has secret nuclear arms plan’ By James Blitz, Daniel Dombey and Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Financial Times, September 29, 2009 Britain’s intelligence services say that Iran has been secretly designing a nuclear warhead “since late 2004 or early 2005”, an assessment that suggests Tehran has embarked on the final steps towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability. As [...]

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Thoughts on Iran, mountains and winning without war

by Paul Woodward 09.27.2009

On mountains and metaphors By Paul Woodward, War in Context, September 27, 2009 A few random thoughts and observations on the latest developments with Iran: How big’s a mountain? It’s a clandestine nuclear facility under construction “inside a mountain“. The only adjective that got left out was “deep,” yet knowing that detail might be the [...]

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