World powers see Rohani as chance for nuclear deal

Six world powers see a chance that Iran’s new president may be more amenable to compromise in a long-standing nuclear dispute, a senior Western diplomat said.
The powers – Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany, and the United States – have been seeking to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear program.

President-elect Hassan Rohani won the June 14 election largely on a promise of repairing the country’s sanction-hit economy, and will be under pressure in the coming months to deliver, the diplomat said.

“Rohani’s election could provide an opportunity, and we are expecting to see a change in tone,” the diplomat said, who spoke on condition of anonymity but has close knowledge of the issue.

The comments follow a meeting of senior officials from the six nations in Brussels this week, convened to devise a strategy for the future of nuclear diplomacy after the Iranian election.

Adding some skepticism voiced by negotiators from the six powers, the diplomat said, “We will have to judge the new Iranian government by its actions.”

The six powers said this week they hope to resume talks “as soon as possible”, and several diplomats said a new round of talks could take place in September, possibly before the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The last round, held in April, produced no breakthrough, after Iran rejected an offer of some sanctions relief.

The powers had asked, in return, that Tehran abandon enriching uranium to 20 percent fissile purity as well as ship out an existing stockpile and close a facility where such work is done.

Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and wants major economic sanctions to be lifted before it curbs its 20 percent uranium enrichment program.

The diplomat said Rohani’s past as an Iranian nuclear negotiator meant he would likely be more involved in nuclear diplomacy than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rohani presided over talks with Britain, France, and Germany that saw Tehran agree in 2003 to suspend uranium enrichment-related activities pending further negotiations on trade and diplomatic concessions to Iran, ultimately undone by mutual mistrust.

He resigned after Ahmadinejad took office in August 2005.

“He has a particular interest in the nuclear file and knows it extremely well because it is central to his career,” the diplomat said.

Another Western diplomat said Rohani’s election was seen among the six nations as “the best possible outcome”.