Iran and US open to bilateral talks, Israel and Saudi Arabia unhappy
Munich (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Iran and the United States have offered to hold direct bilateral talks on Iran's nuclear programme. Israel and Saudi Arabia want instead a showdown.
The United States will offer bilateral negotiations if the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is prepared for "serious" discussions, US Vice President Joe Biden said the day before the Munich Security Conference.
On the first day of the conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (pictured) said that the US offer was a step forward if it was genuine and on an "equal footing".
Relations between Iran and the United States have been tense since Iran's 1979 revolution. In the past ten years, Tehran's nuclear programme has dominated the relationship. Iran insists that the latter is peaceful in intent. For Israel, the United States and many Western nations, its aim is to build nuclear weapons.
Sanctions against iran have burdened the country's economy. Despite it though, Tehran has continued its uranium enrichment programme.
Over the years, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has inspected Iranian nuclear facilities without reaching any final conclusion. However, Iran has often misled IAEA inspectors with partial information or hiding aspects of its uranium enrichment programme.
US Vice President Biden's overtures come at a time when calls for an attack against Iran are growing in Israel.
Newly re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli security requires the destruction of Iran's nuclear programme, scornful of US diplomacy for trying to give talks a chance over the military option.
A few days ago, in her last interview as US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton said, in relation to Iran, that "at some point the window for engagement has to close".
Speaking at the Munich conference, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said, "No option should be removed from the table". In a not so subtle jibe at the US, he added, "When we say it we mean it and we expect others to mean it as well."
For his part, Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al- Faisal, criticised Iran for "interfering" in Arab affairs. For years, the Saudis have been trying to contain Iranian (Shia) influence in the Muslim world and the Arabian Peninsula.
Al-Faisal also criticised the United States for acting as a "pussy cat" in trying to solve regional problems.
This was a clear reference to US policy vis-à-vis Iran but also Washington's haphazard position towards the anti-Assad opposition in Syria.
For the Saudis, getting rid of Assad would be the first step towards isolating Iran before any attack. As part of this strategy, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been funding the armed opposition in Syria and Turkey.
Israel's attack last Wednesday on a military research centre in Jamraya, near Damascus, represents a further step towards military action against Tehran.
At the Munich conference, Salehi announced that Iran would resume nuclear talks with the 5+1 group (US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany) in Kazakhstan on 25 February. The last round had ended in a stalemate in June in Moscow.
Short of establishing a nuclear free zone in the Middle East, which would require Israel to give up its own nuclear force, Iran has constantly claimed the right to build its nuclear programme, like the big powers.
Although Israel has neither confirmed nor denied having a nuclear weapons arsenal, it is believed it possesses nuclear warheads.
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