Azerbaijan, Baku, 28 May / corr. Trend D. Khatinoglu/ As the set of proposals introduced by Iran to the Six (permanent members of the UN Security Council) is not concrete, it is supposed not to be to be taken seriously by the western countries.
The set of proposals introduced by the Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki to the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and six countries (the United States, China, France, Great Britain, Russia and Germany) covers economic, political, security and nuclear program issues. According to the Iranian IRNA new agency report of 22 May, the official Tehran hopes for the serious attitude of the West towards it.
Iran officially introduced the western countries a set of proposals on security and nuclear program issues for the first time. Prior to the meeting of the Shanghai conference (security talks among five countries: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan), more precisely, two months ago, Mottaki stated that during the conference he will introduce western countries proposals developed by the official Tehran in order to address international problems. However, Iran was two months late with its proposals. The UN Security Council developed its own set of proposals as a reply and official Tehran intended first of all to get familiar with these documents. The set of proposals of the Security Council will be discussed in the new future during European Union Commissar for External Policy Havier Solana's visit to Tehran.
The Foreign Minister of the Great Britain stated in the meeting of the Six in London that proposals have been developed on giving economic privileges to Iran and this document is quite 'fair and interesting'. In fact, Iran does not hurry to put forward its proposals without getting familiar with its content. The key demand of the West to Iran is that Iran should stop its uranium enrichment plan. However, Iran rejected this proposal describing it as crossing 'red line'.
Inaccurate and fuzzy proposals in Iran's set of proposals
On 22 May, the Iranian press published details of the set of the proposals by Mottaki to Ban ki-Moon. The proposals cover several areas. The first item covers war on terrorism, providing security, especially in the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans and fight against drugs.
Mottaki stated that Iran is ready for an enhanced corporation with the international community in this sphere. The main problem in this regard is the different attitude of Iran and West to Hamas and Hezbollah. The West believes that they are terrorist organizations, but Iran rejects this statement. Though Iran does not openly and aggressively 'attack' Israel in its set of proposals, it stated that Iran is ready to take part in the solution of the Palestinian problem. However, Palestine or Israel is less likely to accept Iran's mediation.
The second item of Iran's proposals states that Iran is ready to take an active part in the large-scale projects on economic development and alleviation of poverty. The UN Security Council has passed four Resolutions against nuclear program of Iran so far and several countries have joined economic sanctions imposed against official Iran. Iran was removed from the international finance system. Even if the economic sanctions imposed against Iran are canceled, official Tehran's joining international economic network is impossible any time soon.
The key problem of Iran's economic proposals is that they are of minor importance for the West.
The nuclear issue is covered very shortly and in an inaccurate way at the conclusion of Iran's proposals. Tehran states that it is ready for corporation with world countries to prevent dissemination of the nuclear weapons, to generate the nuclear energy for peace purposes and to establish international nuclear consortium in any country including Iran. The problems of the West with Iran regarding nuclear program has nothing to do with the proposals of the official Tehran. Though German Foreign Minister Franc Stainmayer stated that these proposals are very interesting subject to discuss, the West is less likely to accept them. There is no guarantee that Iran's proposals will be accepted.
West's Proposals to Iran
Solana will officially discuss the set of proposals of the West with Iran during his official visit to Tehran. The commissar's visit to Iran is probably aims at not only officially introducing this set of proposals. If proposals are rejected, Solana will remind Iran of the possibility of the bad results that it can have. Though the details of the West's proposals have not been published yet, two issues in these proposals can be easily forecasted.
First of all, Iran will be demand to stop uranium enrichment though Iran has repeatedly stated that it will not even discuss this issue.
The other issue is guaranteeing Iran's security. Last week, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated importance of guaranteeing Iran's security by the United States during his meeting with his German counterpart Stainmayer. But, the official Washington rejected this proposal. The key concern of Iran is that the United States will not guarantee its security. Relying on these facts we can say that Iran will not take West's proposals seriously. At any case, by making proposals, Iran attempted to win time to continue its nuclear plan.
Probably, the statement of the Israeli officials that Iran's nuclear program will turn into 'irreversible process' is more than true. Iran is not sure that it will be able to win enough time to continue its nuclear plan. The war option will be inevitable after the next Resolution of the UN Security Council.
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