WarSclerotic

She locked him in for another day of talks

Refusing to discuss his own country’s nuclear program, Iranian delegation leader Saeed Jalili was only willing to talk about Israel’s reported nuclear arsenal when he met with the delegations of six world powers in Istanbul Friday, Jan. 21. Our sources report that European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, head of the multi-power delegation, physically blocked the exit of the conference chamber to prevent Jalili from walking out. He finally agreed to stay another day in response to Ashton’s pleas but refused to change his position.

Western diplomats used very undiplomatic language to describe how “very angry and frustrated” they were with Iran’s attitude to yet another US-led bid to solve the nuclear controversy with Iran by diplomacy and dialogue..
One Western diplomat recalled anonymously how on Oct. 5, 2000, Madeleine Albright, then US Secretary of State, locked the gates of a venue in Paris to stop Yasser Arafat walking out of a meeting with then prime minister Ehud Barak that Washington had called to try and avert the Palestinian uprising.
In London, Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair issued the strongest call yet from any Western statesman to take the gloves off with Iran.

“I say this to you with all of the passion I possibly can – at some point the West has to get out of what I think is a wretched policy or posture of apology for believing that we are causing what the Iranians are doing, or what these extremists are doing,” he said. “We are not. The fact is they are doing it because they disagree fundamentally with our way of life and they’ll carry on doing it unless they are met by the requisite determination and if necessary, force.”
From his experience as Middle East peace envoy, Blair said, “…the impact and the influence of Iran is everywhere. It is negative, destabilizing, it is supportive of terrorist groups and it is doing everything it can to impede progress in the Middle East process.”

Blair said bluntly that US President Barack Obama is “too soft” with Iran. His critical remarks were directed equally at the Netanyahu government in Jerusalem, which closely aligns its Iran policy with that of Washington.
debkafile‘s sources report that opponents of military force against Iran have lately gained ground in Israel’s top military and intelligence ranks.

Iran’s state media do not even use the word “nuclear” in reporting on the talks taking place between the head of its national security council and a group made up of the US, China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK  – calling them only a search for “common grounds for cooperation.”

Ahead of the Istanbul meeting, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared: “100,000 resolutions (sanctions) will not divert us from our course.”