May 12, 2006
Time magazine reveals that they too received a love letter from Iran regarding the regime's runaway nuclear program.
...a second document, written by a top Iranian official and given to TIME just before Ahmadinejad's letter was made public, offers a more concrete foundation for negotiations to resolve the nuclear impasse. In the two-page memorandum, intended for publication in the West, Hassan Rohani,representative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, on the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Iran's former top nuclear negotiator, defends Iran's nuclear posture, decries American bullying, and puts forward a plan to remove the nuclear issue from the U.N. Security Council and return it to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, a long-standing Iranian goal.
The letter also offers some specific Iranian starting points for negotiation. Rohani said Iran would "consider ratifying the Additional Protocol, which provides for intrusive and snap inspections," and that it would also "address the question of preventing 'break-out'" — or abandonement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Independent nuclear experts consulted by TIME said these proposals were "hopeful" signs. p> However, on the key U.S. demand that Iran forgo uranium enrichment on its own soil, because of international fears the process would permit Tehran to develop weapons-grade fissile material, Rohani said Iran would agree only "to negotiate with the IAEA and states concerned about the scope and timing of its industrial-scale uranium enrichment." And while Rohani promised that "Iran would accept an IAEA verifiable cap on enrichment limit of reactor grade uranium" on Iranian territory, that would not meet the concerns of the U.S. and most of its European allies.
Rohani also pledged that "Iran would accept an IAEA verifiable cap on the production of UF6 — uranium hexafluoride, which is used for enrichment." Finally, Rohani promised that "Iran and the IAEA would agree on terms of the continuous presence of inspectors in Iran to verify credibly that no diversion takes place."
Now that is a real proposal.
And, uncannily enough, though we've joked about Ahmadinejad's letter resembling Khrushchev's rambling tome sent to Kennedy at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, this situation is now shaping up with some serious similarities. As Rick Moran notes:
Nikita Kruschev used an old army friend, Alexander Fromin, who was a Counselor at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, to contact ABC News correspondent John Scali in order to have the reporter carry personal messages to Kennedy from the Soviet Premiere. Kruschev used the Fromin-Scali channel to bypass his Central Committee who were determined to keep the missiles in Cuba unless the US gave in on moving its missiles out of Turkey. Kennedy eventually gave in to that demand (along with guaranteeing Cuban sovereignty by promising not to invade) but got the Soviets to keep that part of the deal quiet.
The interesting thing is that the Iranian leaders in this situation may be taking on opposite roles to the Soviet premier and Politburo players - where we now have Ahmadinejad as the hardliner (who, according to the New York Sun actually declared war on the U.S with that letter) and the Ayatollah as looking for a way out.
Ahmadinejad's letter received immense coverage in the Middle East, as it did here. But the second letter has gone unmentioned - partly because of Time magazine holding it. However we'd be curious to see, if and when the American press covers it more extensively, how much play it gets in the Middle East. Perhaps this is Iran's way of maintaining their hardline appearance at home, and punching through the diplomatic barrier with America.
Of course, as we should also realize, Iran knows Bush is in a politically precarious position right now. Losing Congress in the fall would effectively neuter the rest of his presidency, as Bush would be spending all of his remaining time in office fending off Democratic investigative committees. Iran may be fishing to see what tactic for getting their way works best.
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