Iran Nuclear Talks Open With ‘Very Detailed’ Proposal

Israel Warns Against Any Deal to Lift Sanctions

The first day of a two-day Geneva nuclear conference between Iran and the P5+1 opened today with high hopes and a “very detailed” hour-long presentation of Iran’s new proposal for a final settlement of the issue.

Details of the proposal remain unclear, as the nations have agreed to keep the details of the talks “confidential” for the time being, but reports leading up to the talks suggested Iran was going to offer to reduce its enrichment of uranium and agree to additional transparency of the process, above and beyond that required in its IAEA safeguards agreement.

The morning presentation gave way to “detailed technical discussions” of the Iranian proposal throughout the afternoon, and Iran’s negotiator, deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, says that the goal is to get to a settlement deal in six months.

US officials also said they would “welcome” an additional bilateral meeting on the side of the Geneva conference, though it is unclear whether or not that will actually happen. US and Iranian officials met at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.

Israeli officials are angrily opposed to the talks, and have warned against any deal that would involve lifting sanctions on Iran. Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz today claimed Israel wanted the Geneva talks to succeed, but only yesterday likened the exact same talks to appeasement of Nazi Germany, and closed both comments with calls for “credible military threats” to attack Iran.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.