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US Prefers Diplomacy To Resolve Iran Nuclear Issue

US Secretary of State John Kerry said America and Saudi Arabia prefer diplomatic channels for settling issues related to Iran’s nuclear energy program.
In a joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal in Riyadh on Monday, Kerry said, “We both prefer--and this is important for Iranians to hear and understand--we both prefer diplomacy as the first choice, the preferred choice,” Reuters reported.
Kerry, however, pointed out, “The window for a diplomatic solution simply cannot by definition remain open indefinitely.”
Saud also said the international community supports all efforts to resolve the crisis diplomatically and ensure Iran’s use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with procedures of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We hope that negotiations will result in a radical solution to this crisis,” he added. The United States, China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany (P5+1), in Almaty talks on February 27, offered modest relief from economic sanctions in return for Iran reining in its most sensitive nuclear activity but made clear that no breakthrough was in the offing quickly.
The United States and its allies suspect Iran may be using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons, a possibility that Israel, which is regarded as the Middle East’s only nuclear power, sees as a mortal threat.
Iran says its program is solely for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and making medical isotopes.
This is not the first time that top US officials lay emphasis on diplomacy as the main channel for the resolution of the issue over Iran’s nuclear energy program, revealing a policy shift from the US President Barack Obama’s first term when his defense chief Leon Panetta time and again threatened Iran with a military option.
On February 22, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US was willing ‘to meet bilaterally with the Iranian side’, repeating an offer US Vice President Joe Biden had made earlier at the 49th annual Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 2. Only four days after Biden’s offer of talks, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions to prevent Iran from gaining access to earnings from its crude exports.
On February 7, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei slammed Washington’s carrot and stick policy, saying, “You should know that pressure and negotiations do not go together, and the [Iranian] nation will not be intimidated by such things.”

FM’s Warning About Protracted Syria Crisis

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Syria, warning that the prolongation of the Syrian crisis will lead to the spillover of the unrest into the whole region.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the continuation violence and blind bombing attacks will delay the achievement of a political solution [to the unrest in Syria],” Salehi said in a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday, IRNA reported.
On February 21, a powerful car bomb exploded in the Syrian capital’s Mazra’ah residential neighborhood near the Russian embassy and the headquarters of the ruling Ba’ath Party, reportedly killing 53 people and injuring 250 others in yet another bid by Al-Qaeda-linked terror groups, armed and sponsored from abroad.
The attack was the deadliest to hit Damascus since the outbreak of the violence in Syria two years ago.
Salehi said that such terrorist attacks indicate the desperation of those who seek to achieve their interests by stoking instability in Syria.
The foreign minister reiterated that a delay in resolving the crisis in the Arab state will not serve the interests of the innocent people of Syria, the neighboring countries, the region and the world, saying that inaction in the face of such attacks will have global consequences.
He called on the United Nations to condemn such terrorist attacks.
“These circumstances necessitate widespread consultation to prevent the repetition of the past catastrophes that have had devastating and irreparable effects on the situation of Syria and the region,” Salehi said.
The top diplomat also denounced Washington’s double standards on the fight against terrorism and its failure to condemn those terrorist attacks through the United Nations Security Council.
People, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the turmoil.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
Damascus blames western countries and some of their regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of arming the opposition and fueling crisis in the country.
According to a UN report, militants from nearly 30 countries are in Syria to fight the Damascus government, most of whom are extremist Salafists.
Several international human rights organizations have accused the foreign-sponsored insurgents of committing war crimes.
Iran has repeatedly rejected foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs, calling for national dialog as the only way out of the country’s prolonged impasse.
In a key speech in January, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad stated that Damascus was always ready to hold talks with the opposition and political parties and that he would call for a ‘comprehensive national dialog’ after the terrorist activities stopped in the country.
The Syrian president also urged ‘concerned states and parties’ to stop funding, arming and harboring militants.

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