Faster Progress on Iran Nuclear Standoff Needed to Avert War: Specialists

Faster Progress on Iran Nuclear Standoff Needed to Avert War: Specialists

Russian specialists have suggested a multilateral atomic dialogue with Iran might not be progressing quickly enough to prevent war, the Christian Science Monitor reported on Friday (see GSN, June 22).
Diplomats from Tehran met in Moscow last week with counterparts from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, but the sides failed to reach an agreement addressing suspicions that Iran's nuclear program is geared toward establishment of a weapons capability. Lower-ranking representatives of the six powers are scheduled on July 3 to confer in Turkey with delegates from Iran, which insists its nuclear ambitions are strictly peaceful.
The gloomy outlook of experts in Russia might be relevant in light of the significant disagreements between the sides ahead of next week's gathering, according to the Monitor. Moscow opposes the emergence of a nuclear-armed Iran and has emphasized the necessity for a nonmilitary resolution to the standoff.
"For Russia the result [of previous discussions] is moderately positive," said Sergei Markov, a consultant to Russia's leadership and vice president of the Plekhanov Economic University in Moscow. "It showed Iran is more ready to express its views and compromise, and the Western side did not issue an ultimatum."
Still, a "more clear advance and quicker developments" are necessary in the dialogue to avert an armed exchange, Markov said. The probability is "quite high" for Israel to initiate an armed campaign against Iran either next month or in August, according to the specialist.