WarSclerotic

Iran, Britain move forward to restore relations | The Times of Israel.

Countries to name chargés d’affaires ahead of resumption of embassy activities

British Foreign Secretary William Hague (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90/File)

Iran and Britain will shortly name their respective chargés d’affaires ahead of a resumption of embassy operations within the next eight days, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Tuesday.

“Iranian and British charge d’affaires are to be appointed in eight days but will not be residing in Tehran and London permanently. They will rather carry out their tasks by making regular visits to the two capitals,” she said at a press conference, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

The embassies will officially reopen after the non-resident chargés d’affaires begin their terms, she added.

“This would be considered as the start of Tehran-London diplomatic relations,” Afkham said.

Iranian and British diplomats began discussing the restoration of ties during the UN General Assembly meeting in September. Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary William Hague proposed in a phone call with counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif that the two countries appoint non-resident chargés d’affaires.

Iranian-British relations took a downturn in November 2011 when Britain decided to impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran over the country’s rogue nuclear program. First, Iranian lawmakers voted by a large majority to downgrade ties with the UK, and two days later, hundreds of Iranian students protested outside the British Embassy in Tehran, pulling down the British flag. The next day, London withdrew its diplomatic staff from Iran and the Iranian embassy in London was closed.

Since the incident British interests in Iran were represented by the local Swedish embassy, and Iranian interests in London by the embassy of Oman.

Last week, Iran and six world powers, including Britain, finished a round of high-level talks on Iran’s nuclear program, with a new round expected to be held next month.

Iran nuke overture: More a promise than an offer | The Times of Israel.

Despite the Iranians’ moderate rhetoric, there is still a significant gap between what they are proposing and what the six world powers demand

Delegates from the P5+1 and Iran meet in Geneva, at the start of two days of talks regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, Tuesday, October 15, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Fabrice Coffrini)

VIENNA (AP) — Iran nuclear talks ended last week with enthusiastic pronouncements of progress from negotiators. Tehran’s willingness to engage is a big step, but diplomats familiar with the meeting also say significant gaps remain between what the Iranians offered and what the six negotiating powers seek in order to reduce fears Iran wants to build nuclear weapons.

Details of the Iranian offer remain confidential, but two diplomats agreed to give The Associated Press some insight. They demanded anonymity because they are under orders not to discuss the issue.

The diplomats said the chief advance achieved at Geneva was not detailed Iranian concessions, but Tehran’s apparent willingness to engage the six powers on their concerns — a departure from previous Iranian refusal to even discuss most of the other side’s demands.

Differences remain over the size and output of Iran’s enrichment program, which can create both reactor fuel and weapons-grade material suitable for a nuclear bomb.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, refused to confirm the characterization of negotiations, saying only that his country “introduced the framework for the talks” during the meeting and that they were welcomed. He said that Iran and the six powers had agreed to keep details confidential.

Iran, which denies any interest in such weapons, currently runs over 10,000 centrifuges that have created tons of fuel-grade material that can be further enriched to arm nuclear warheads. That’s a relatively slow process with such reactor-grade material.

But Tehran also has nearly 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of higher-enriched uranium in a form that can be turned into weapons much more quickly. Experts say 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of 20 percent-enriched uranium are needed to produce a single warhead

The following is a list of demands on Iran from the six powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — and what the diplomats say Tehran offered at the Geneva talks:

Suspension of Enrichment Above Reactor Fuel-Grade Levels

The six want Iran to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent. The diplomats say Iran offered to halt 20-percent enrichment at the Geneva talks, which ended Wednesday. They had already proposed this at the round preceding the Geneva talks.

Enrichment at Fordo

The six demand that enrichment operations at Fordo, an underground bunker believed to be impervious to air strikes, be disabled to the point where they would be difficult to restart. The diplomats say Iran offered only to discuss the status of Fordo.

Limits on all Iranian Enrichment

The six powers want a cap on how much enriched material Iran can produce and stockpile. With some of Iran’s enriching centrifuges more efficient than others, this would mean tough negotiations on the number and type of machines it has installed and is operating. The diplomats say Iran has signaled it is open to discussing numbers.

Uranium Stockpiles

• The six powers want Tehran to ship out most of its supply of 20-percent enriched uranium or blend it down into reactor fuel. They also want Iran to agree to stricter U.N. supervision of its lower-grade enriched uranium stockpile. The diplomats said the Iranians did not substantially address these demands.

Additionally, the diplomats said the Iranians agreed to discuss six power concerns about a reactor that experts say will produce enough plutonium for one or two bombs a year once completed. The US and its allies have called on Tehran to stop construction of that reactor.

Araghchi predicted Monday the nuclear talks could take as long as a year in step-by-step measures with the first milestone coming in three to six months and negotiations concluding within the year.

Such a timetable, however, could bring pressure on Washington from Israel and others that fear Iran could be seeking to buy time while making nuclear advances. The diplomats said no formal implementation time table of any deal was discussed last week.

In contrast to the overture on nuclear efforts, hardline factions in Iran have increased their bluster. They hold sway over the pace and direction of the nuclear program and the West could grow increasingly skeptical about the country’s outreach.

On Tuesday, Gen. Masoud Jazayri, the deputy chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, issued a veiled warning to the negotiators representing Tehran at the talks.

“Iranian diplomats will never give in to the oppressive West,” Jazayri was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars new agency. “The Iranian people will carefully watch what their own representatives and the other party at the talks say and do.”

Experts from both sides are to meet at a yet unannounced date before the next round of talks in Geneva November 7-8. The diplomats said that only if that meeting makes progress in nailing down concrete issues to be negotiated at the Geneva talks can last week’s round be called a success.

Associated Press writers Brian Murphy in Dubai and Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Saudi spy chief says Riyadh to ‘shift away from US’ over Syria, Iran | JPost | Israel News.

Prince Bandar slams US for failure in dealing with regional issues.

‘US canceled deal to supply Turkey with drones’ | The Times of Israel.

( Note: It was Congress NOT Obama who canceled the sale. –  JW )

Report in Turkish daily claims Ankara’s exposure of Iranian assets working with Mossad prompted Congress to rescind agreement

Illustrative photo of an American MQ-9 Predator drone (photo credit: Honorable German/Flickr/File)

A Turkish report claimed Monday that the US Congress canceled a deal to supply Ankara with 10 Predator drones because the Turkish government had blown the cover of several Iranian intelligence assets who were working with Israel.

According to the daily Taraf, the head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, exposed the 10 Iranians – who had secretly been meeting with Mossad handlers – to the Islamic Republic more than three years ago, after the Israeli takeover of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara. Nine turkish citizens were killed in the operation, which led to Ankara’s all but freezing its relations with Israel.

The US drones were to be delivered to Turkey in mid-2012, but according to the report, Congress canceled the deal because of the growing cooperation between the Turkish and Iranian intelligence services.

Breaking the story of the Iranians and their alleged Mossad handlers last Thursday, the Washington Post cited “knowledgeable sources” who said the “deliberate compromise” of Israel’s agents by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government constituted a “significant” loss of intelligence and can be interpreted as “an effort to slap the Israelis.”

Following the Washington Post report, which said the intelligence breach occurred in 2012, Turkey pointed to Israel, claiming it was behind a “media campaign” against Ankara.

“We see this media campaign as an attack and there might be an Israeli effort behind it,” the Turkish Daily Hurriyet quoted an unnamed Turkish intelligence source as saying. “Especially after the Washington Post story on Oct. 17 and the follow-ups with Jerusalem bylines,” the source added.

Israel and Turkish negotiation teams have been working over the past few months to reach an agreement over compensation to families of those who died in the Mavi Marmara incident. In March, Israel-Turkish relations began to thaw following a President Barack Obama-brokered call by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Erdogan to deliver a formal apology for operational errors made in the raid and to promise compensation.

Russia and Iran expanding military cooperation and arms trade.

Russian and Iranian air force chiefs in Tehran

In his four-day trip to Tehran, Russian Air Force Chief Gen. Viktor Bondarev and his hosts, Brig. Gen. Hassan Shasafi and other senior Iranian military chiefs, laid the groundwork for a series of agreements to upgrade their military ties to a level unprecedented in their past relations.  debkafile’s military and Iranian sources report that Iran is deliberately accentuating those ties as a message to the Western powers that if they give the Islamic Republic a hard time over its nuclear program, it will go all the way to a full-dress defense pact with Russia.

Moscow has its own reasons for being keen to expand its military ties with Tehran:

1. Signing defense accords and arms transactions with Iran will give Russia its first serious military foothold in the Persian Gulf;

2. Moscow is not only seeking to compete with the US military presence in the Gulf but also displace America and China in the weapons markets of the Middle East.
3. Major Russian-Iranian arms deals will be a precedent for important weapons transactions brokered by Saudi Arabia with Egypt. Moscow sees the shape of a weapons-trading triangle that could be exploited in the future for Russia to serve in the role of mediator between Riyadh and Tehran.

These are long term strategic goals for the Kremlin.

Iran additionally keeps at the front of its mind the potential for an Israeli or American military strike on its nuclear program if the diplomatic track runs into the sand – especially since the Islamic regime has no intention of giving up what it considers its right to develop nuclear power and enrich uranium.

That is the truth behind the make-believe posture in some Western circles that Iran offered the Geneva conference last week a list of concessions on its nuclear program.
Tehran has put in special requests for massive Russian technological assistance for upgrading its missile industry by extending the range of their ballistic missiles and improving their precision. The Iranians also see a chance to renovate their aging air force and have applied for Russian fighters, interceptors, transports and refueling planes as well as training facilities for air force flight crews.
After Moscow refused to deliver them advanced S-300 anti-air missile systems, the Iranians set up programs for developing home-made products. They claim to have built their own S-200 interceptor missiles and are offering to shell out hefty sums for the purchase of new Russian technology to improve them.

The visiting Russian air force chief therefore had plenty to discuss with his Iranian hosts. Especially significant was his visit Monday, Oct. 21 to the Iranian anti-air command at Khatam Al-Anbiya and his conversation with its head, Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili.