LATEST: US Names Team for Nuclear Talks This Week

Analysis: How Revolutionary Guards Propaganda Tries To Derail Rouhani’s Foreign Policy

SUMMARY: Iranian State and semi-official media maintained a steady flow of articles on Saturday proclaiming Tehran’s readiness for a deal on its nuclear program, before the start of talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers in Geneva on Tuesday.

Press TV, for example, headlined, “China Praises Iran Goodwill in N-Issue“, while carrying a warning from Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia that sanctions on the Islamic Republic harm the global economy.

Perhaps the most interesting signal was the support of the Revolutionary Guards’ outlet, Fars News, for the line — despite the Guards’ tensions with President Rouhani over engagement of the West.

Fars features a re-assertion of Iran’s general framework for a deal, through a statement by Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a member of Parliament’s National Security Commission:

To be fruitful, the negotiations need some positive steps taken by both sides.

For instance, the westerners can make some decisions [to remove the European Union’s prohibition] on the insurance of Iranian oil tankers or revise their decisions with regard to the ban on the purchase of Iranian crude by China, India and Japan before the start of the talks in a bid to show their good will.

Meantime Tehran is ready to show more transparency in its nuclear program in the upcoming talks.

Asafari’s statement tips off two measures that Iran would see as significant in return for its promise to suspend enrichment of 20% uranium: 1) steps to reverse the EU’s July 2012 sanctions, which sharply curbed Iran’s oil and other trade through the bans on insurance and financial transactions; and 2) President Obama’s use of waivers lifting the threat of penalties on Iran’s Asian customers if they increase oil purchases from Tehran.


Latest Updates, From Top to Bottom

US Names Team for Nuclear Talks This Week

The US Government has confirmed its negotiating team for talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers, beginning Tuesday in Geneva.

Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman will lead the delegation. It will include Adam Szubin, the director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which implements sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The US team also includes James Timbie, senior adviser to the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; Puneet Talwar, the National Security Council’s senior director for Iran, Iraq, and the Gulf States; and Richard Nephew, principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy at the State Department.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif may be present at the start of the talks; however, detailed negotiations are likely to be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

Deputy Foreign Minister “We Will Not Ship Out 20% Enriched Uranium”

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has said that Iran will not agree to send its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium abroad, although Tehran will discuss other aspects of its program.

“We will negotiate regarding the form, amount, and various levels of [uranium] enrichment, but the shipping of [enriched] materials out of the country is our red line,” Araqchi said.

Tehran has said it will suspend enrichment of 20% uranium in return for a guaranteed supply.

Iran refused earlier this year to accept the shut-down of its Fordoo plant and shipment abroad of all of its current 20% stock. However, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani indicated in a statement to Associated Press last week that the Islamic Republic would negotiate shipment of its “surplus” stock abroad.

In talks earlier this year, the US insisted on the “stop, shut, and ship” proposal. It is unknown whether the Americans will amend that demand in Tuesday’s talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers.

Political Analyst Zibakalam “Hostility to US Has Caused Great Damage to Iran’s Interests”

More support in Iran’s press for engagement with America, with the Young Journalists Club featuring the remarks of leading political analyst Sadegh Zibakalam:

Hostility to the US and the urge to stay so has incurred great loss on our national interests. Considering the kind of relations we have with other countries, one cannot say with certainty that the US is untrustworthy, because some of the countries with which we have relations also may have been unfaithful in certain instances.

Zibaklam added, “As far as national interests areconcerned, there is no justification for stressing enmity with the US. The urge to keep hostile relations with the US is an ideological outlook that has remained from the Marxist mode of thought.”