Israel Matzav

Iranian negotiator accuses Israel of trying to sabotage nuke talks

A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator is accusing Israel of trying to sabotage the nuclear talks between the P 5+1 and Iran.

Speaking before a new round of expert-level talks, due to begin on Tuesday in New York, Seyed Abbas Araqchi, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said Iran remained hopeful that a comprehensive agreement could be reached by the 20 July deadline.

But Araqchi, part of Iran's three-man lead negotiating team, warned that many pitfalls remained, including a chronic lack of trust between the US and Iran, a host of inter-related technical issues, and outside attempts to derail the process.

"There are spoilers everywhere who don't want an agreement, there are dark forces who don't like this process … It is clear some people don't want to resolve this issue in a peaceful and logical way," Araqchi said during an exclusive interview at the foreign ministry in Tehran.

"I don't want to use the word 'warmongers'. But these people want continuing tension, a continuing crisis in our region. They don't want the sanctions on Iran to end. They don't want Iran to be a major player in this region, although in fact it already is."

Araqchi did not name any country but his remarks appeared aimed at the Israeli government, which believes Iran is intent on covertly developing nuclear weapons – a claim Tehran firmly denies. Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has been highly critical of the talks between Iran and the P5+1, the five permanent UN security council members plus Germany.

Given that Iran has been fooling the world about its nuclear program for years, do you trust them? I don't.

Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, P 5+1

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:28 PM