LATEST: Visit by Dutch MPs Cancelled Over Row With Europe About Human Rights and “Sedition”

MONDAY FEATURE

Iran Breaking: Tehran’s Warships No Longer Heading for US Coast

Iran’s military has maintained its pressure on the Rouhani Government over its nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 Powers.

The deputy head of armed forces, General Massoud Jazayeri (pictured), said on Sunday:

We respect understanding as long as it falls within the framework of our country’s national interests….

(But) I tell the US that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces won’t accept any irrational agreement.

The Iranian military has refrained from direct opposition to the talks, which are now pursuing a comprehensive agreement, since the Supreme Leader’s endorsed the process last autumn. However, they have been increasingly vocal this month in their warnings that any deal must be opposed if it does not meet fundamental Iranian demands.

On April 1, Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari told nuclear negotiators that they should consider November’s interim agreement void “if there are any violations of Iran’s rights to nuclear energy or if any part of the agreement is violated by the West or America”.

Last week, Iran and the 5+1 Powers held their third round of talks on a comprehensive agreement, including provisions for Tehran’s enrichment of uranium, the status of nuclear facilities, and the lifting of US-led sanctions. Both sides said the discussions were “constructive” but cautioned that much remained to be done to close gaps for a final deal.

The negotiators are seeking a comprehensive settlement by July 20, when November’s interim deal expires.

Meanwhile, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, put out a firm line on Sunday, emphasizing that Tehran’s consideration of a limit of 5% enrichment of uranium was voluntary and not a capitulation to US and European conditions.

“We believe that we are entitled to any right that any NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and (International Atomic Energy) Agency member has, which means that enrichment (of uranium) from 1% to 90% is our right,” Salehi said.

The former Foreign Minister also struck a tough pose over the issue of the number of centrifuges allowed in a final agreement: “To meet the Bushehr (nuclear) power plant’s annual need for fuel, we should have 50,000 centrifuges to produce 30 tons of enriched uranium.”

The US and European countries say that Iran needs far fewer centrifuges for a civilian program.

Tehran currently has about 19,000 centrifuges — about half of which are said to be operating — and the 5+1 Powers are reportedly seeking a significant reduction in that number in the comprehensive deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in February that Iran has plans for almost 28,000 centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordoo plants.


Visit by Dutch MPs Cancelled Over Row With Europe About Human Rights and “Sedition”

Iran’s hostility towards European countries over statements on human rights continues, with the cancellation of a visit by Dutch MPs.

Ebrahim Aghamohammadi, a member of Parliament’s National Security Commission, said the trip was banned because the delegates intended to meet with “seditious and anti-Revolutionary elements”.

Iranian officials denounced the European Union’s Catherine Ashton, the lead nuclear negotiator for the 5+1 Powers, when she met women’s rights activists — including former political prisoners the mother of a blogger killed in prison — last month.

Tensions escalated further 10 days when the European Parliament, in a resolution on relations with Iran, expressed grave concern over human rights in the Islamic Republic.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the National Security Commission, said the Dutch ambassador in Tehran had been informed that the delegates should not travel to Iran if they were planning to meet with opponents of the Islamic Republic.

Tehran Threatens Legal Action Over US Veto of UN Ambassador

Both the Rouhani Government and Parliament spoke on Sunday about the prospect of legal action over the US veto of Iran’s choice of ambasador to the United Nations.

The White House has said it will not grant a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi (pictured), a career diplomat who has served in a series of European capitals, to come to New York.

Critics have claimed that Aboutalebi was among students who seized the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979, holding 52 Americans for 444 days. The diplomat and students involved in the occupation say that he was only brought in occasionally as a translator.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that the White House action violated international treaties, including a 1947 agreement that “the federal, state or local authorities of the United States shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district of representatives of members or officials of the United Nations”.

Spokesman Marzieh Afkham said, “The official mechanisms for following up the case have been activated, and are underway.”

Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a member of Parliament’s National Security Commission, said the Majlis has given a 10-day ultimatum to the Government to file a lawsuit against the US.

Neither the Foreign Ministry nor Asafari gave details on how and where the Iranians could pursue the legal action to override the US veto.