Asia-Pacific

Failure of new round of nuclear talks no surprise

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-23 10:45

TEHRAN - Talks between six world powers and Iran ended here Saturday without making any progress in solving the Islamic Republic's long-standing controversial nuclear issue.

The reason behind the failure lies in the division over Iran's uranium enrichment activities. Iran declared it would not consider freezing uranium enrichment.

Local observers said the failure is not unexpected, if one takes into account what the Iranians have said and did in the run-up to the Istanbul talks.

Even before the talks, it was widely believed that the new round of talks in Istanbul would hardly bear any fruits. After all, it is highly unlikely that Iran would stop insisting on its "nuclear rights," including continuing uranium enrichment activities within its borders.

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"There is absolutely no possibility that Iran will give up its peaceful nuclear program" including "the production of nuclear fuel for its civilian reactors," said Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a research fellow at the Institute of North American and European Studies of Tehran University.

A string of maneuvers by Iran recently confirmed what Marandi said, proving the country would hardly backtrack from its position.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran will not withdraw an iota from its nuclear objectives despite pressure from the West.

On the same day, Iran test-fired a surface-to-air missile near its Khondab nuclear sites, which military commander Colonel Far Mahini said was to enhance the defense capabilities and defend the sensitive places of the country.

Earlier, the Iranian president had also said that Iran was a nuclear country, implying that Iran had achieved nuclear know-how for energy purposes.

A week earlier, foreign delegates invited by the Iranian government visited Iran's nuclear sites. This came after European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton turned down Tehran's invitation, saying it was the task of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the Iranian nuclear facilities.

Analysts believe Iran's above-mentioned actions are meant to signify that Iran's nuclear program is transparent and only for peaceful purposes and that Iran would insist on continuing uranium enrichment activities despite of pressure.

Just as Marandi observed, Iran hopes its so-called "nuclear rights" will be respected, and the greater the pressure on Iran, the more determined Iran will be to speed up the nuclear program and push back its "antagonists."

It should therefore have come as no surprise that Iran refused to give up its uranium enrichment activities as desired by the West, a refusal that contributed to the failure of the new round of talks between Iran and the six powers.