Spirits are high in Geneva following talks between Iran and the P5+1—the five permanent members of the security council and Germany—over Iran’s nuclear program. The negotiations, which took place over the 15th and 16th of October, sought to reach an end to the dispute between Iran and the other parties over the Iranian nuclear program.
Iran’s nuclear program has been the subject of dispute since 2003, when it was revealed that Iran had not declared an uranium enrichment program—a crucial step in the development of atomic weapons. This action was deemed by the US to violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a signatory, which states that non nuclear-weapon-possessing members may not pursue a nuclear weapon program.
As Iran continued with its nuclear program the UN imposed sanctions on its nuclear and oil industry. But until now, there has been little progress towards a diplomatic solution to the issue, with the West continuing to accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapon capability while Iran insists that its program is civilian in nature.
There are still many issues between Iran and the other countries at the negotiation table. Many US politicians are petitioning for Iran to shut down its enrichment centres before sanctions are lifted, while the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqch claiming that the West’s demand that Iran export some of its enriched uranium crosses “our red line.” There is also concern about Iran’s newest research reactor, scheduled to begin operation in 2014, which uses heavy water as a neutron moderator and therefore produces large quantities of weaponizable plutonium as a byproduct.
The talks reportedly made much progress between the different parties, though many of the exact details are being withheld. According to Russian Foreign minister Alexander Lukashevich “[the talks were] very tough [but]… quite promising.” His Deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, took a more somber note, saying that the different sides were still very far apart.
While opinions may differ on the results, there is little doubt that progress has been made and this progress is expected to continue in further talks on November 7th and 8th.
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