Iran’s Western-educated foreign minister will take the lead in nuclear negotiations with world powers, an Iranian diplomat said Tuesday, a shift that strips the role away from the country’s national security council.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a veteran diplomat, will now be top nuclear negotiator, the official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
The transferring of nuclear negotiating power to professional diplomats rather than security-minded figures at the Supreme National Security Council who were handpicked by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a sign the Islamic Republic may seek a less confrontational approach to negotiations than in past years.
Since the election of centrist Hasan Rouhani as president in June, Iran says it is taking a new approach to talks with a six-nation group — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany — over its nuclear program.
The standoff with Iran stems from Western allegations Tehran is pursuing weapons technology, a charge it denies, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Four rounds of talks since last year have failed so far to make any significant headway.
The main thrust of the plan, officials say, is to maintain nuclear activities but abandon the bombastic style of Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, insisting that the nation wants a change in foreign policy tactics but not principles.
Still, a change in tone from Iran would not be insignificant. Ahmadinejad used to call U.N. resolutions “worthless papers,” comparing them to “annoying flies” and “a used tissue,” and the outgoing top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili followed hard-line tactics in talks.
Rouhani, who won a landslide in the June 14 presidential election, has vowed to pursue a “policy of moderation” and ease tensions with the outside world.
Khamenei, who has ultimate authority on all matters of state, also appears to have given his blessing to a more diplomatic approach to the West.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Khamenei, said earlier this week that Iran needed a new approach to negotiations.
“Repeating the same language that we had before, I don’t think it is useful. We have to talk with a different language. The same purposes but a different language,” he said.
Velayati added however that Iran will not again suspend the key process of uranium enrichment because Tehran had a bitter experience when it did so in 2003 as a confidence-building measure. Still, he underlined that the West must understand that final decisions on the nuclear issue are made by the supreme leader Khamenei, not Rouhani.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief has said says she will “soon” meet Zarif amid the need for swift and substantial talks over the nuclear program. Catherine Ashton’s office said she called the minister on Saturday to congratulate him on his appointment.
Zarif has said he welcomed resumption of talks but called for “purposeful and time-limited” negotiations.
“Dr. Zarif is now in the process of selecting his negotiating team before preparing for talks with the six-nation group,” the official said.
Zarif did postgraduate studies at San Francisco State University and obtained a doctorate in international law and policy at the University of Denver. Zarif also raised his profile in the U.S. as a diplomat at Iran’s U.N. Mission in New York during a five-year posting that ended in 2007.
Rouhani hopes Zarif’s expertise and years of experience in dealing with Americans as Iran’s top U.N. envoy will help his government understand the American way of thinking. Zarif worked with Rouhani back when the president was Iran’s top nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005.
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