Iran’s foreign minister said that Western economic sanctions on the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear program have “utterly failed.” “When sanctions started, Iran had less than 200 centrifuges. Today Iran has 19,000 centrifuges, so the net product of the sanctions has been about 18,800 centrifuges that have been added to Iran’s stock of centrifuges,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with Al Jazeera that aired Tuesday night. “So sanctions have utterly failed in that regard.” Mr. Zarif said the sanctions have produced a negative response toward the West from the Iranian people, whose ability to buy food and medicine has been restricted. “Iranians are almost allergic to pressure and intimidation. They respond negatively,” he said. Negotiators from Iran and the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, Germany, China and the European Union last month reached a six-month deal that temporarily limits the amount of uranium Iran can enrich in exchange for a partial easing of the sanctions. Western nations suspect Tehran of trying to build an atomic bomb, which Iran denies. The Obama administration has urged lawmakers to avoid adding new sanctions during the six-month period, warning of derailing the diplomatic breakthrough with Tehran. Under the deal struck in Geneva, Iran will roll back key aspects of its nuclear program, but Mr. Zarif said Iran has not given up the right to enrich uranium. He denied reports that months of back-channel talks between U.S. and Iranian officials had facilitated the deal. “They were not secret back channels,” Mr. Zarif said. “We had discussions with the Americans on the sidelines … There were extensive discussions and these discussions produced this deal …” Mr. Zarif said that Qaboos bin Said, the sultan of Oman, clarified the U.S. position on the nuclear issue during a meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 00:40:50 +0000
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