Ahead of nuclear talks expected to take place next week in Oman, influential figures in Arab countries are expressing concern over the possible agreement that may be reached between Iran and the world powers, emphasizing that Iran seeks to obtain nuclear weapons regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. For them, no deal is better than a bad deal.
Veteran columnist Randa Taki A-Din, writing in Al-Hayat (Arabic link), notes that to date the negotiations with Iran have contributed nothing to the West. According to her, even the upcoming talks will lead the two sides to a dead end. She questioned Iran’s declarations that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes, and reiterated that a country with so much oil and gas does not need civilian nuclear energy. Iran still seeks nuclear weapons, Taki A-Din wrote:
Iran does not need civilian nuclear energy. The real plan is to develop nuclear weapons in order to make Iran a nuclear power in the region. Negotiations between the six world powers and Iran will not make Iran give up those ambitions… The six world powers are mistaken if they think that Iran will give up its nuclear weapons development… The negotiation is nothing but a waste of time that only allows the Iranian regime to reach a nuclear bomb.
Salam Al-Saadi wrote in the Al-Arab newspaper (Arabic link) that even if an agreement between Iran and the six world powers will be signed in the near future, the Islamic Republic is not expected to change its behavior and involvement in the region. On the contrary, he said, Iran is expected to breach the agreement.
An article published in the Emirati Al-Ittihad newspaper (Arabic link) also warned that Iran’s leaders have already decided to make their country a military nuclear power. According to the article, Iran has made a wrong decision to go in the direction of nuclear development instead of economic development.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, his American counterpart John Kerry, and outgoing European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are due to hold a series of talks in Muscat, Oman, on November 9-10. Iran and the major world powers ended their last round of nuclear talks in Vienna during October.
Last Saturday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Seyyed Abbas Araqchi described the removal of all sanctions against Tehran as a precondition for a comprehensive deal with the world powers, and said Iran will not retreat even a millimeter from its nuclear rights.
In advance of the upcoming P5+1 talks, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano again expressed his frustration last week at years of Iranian refusal to cooperate with the international community and come clean about its nuclear program, saying “we cannot provide assurance that all material in Iran is in peaceful purposes.”
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