Under Secretary of State William Burns is representing the United States in the P5+1 discussions with Iran.

30 September 2009

Ahead of Geneva Meeting, U.S. Says Burden of Proof Is on Iran, September 30, 2009

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — When diplomats gather in Geneva on October 1 for meetings with Iranian representatives, they will be asking Iran for proof that the many statements it has made that describe its nuclear activities as being for purely peaceful purposes are accurate.

Representatives from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany, a group referred to as the P5+1, will participate in a meeting with their Iranian counterparts arranged by Javier Solana, the European Union’s high representative for common foreign and security policy.

In an interview with CBS television September 25, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “The Iranians keep insisting, ‘No, no, this is just for peaceful purposes.’”

“What this meeting on October 1st is to test is ‘Fine. Prove it. Don’t assert it, prove it.’ And we are looking to see what they have to say,” she said.

Iran has a right to “peaceful nuclear energy for civilian purposes under appropriate safeguards and monitoring,” the secretary said, “but not to a nuclear weapons program.”

The recent disclosure of a secret underground nuclear facility near the Iranian city Qom has increased international concerns. Obama administration officials have said the facility appears to be designed for enriching uranium, which could then be used to produce nuclear weapons. (See “United States Has Known of Iranian Facility “for Several Years”.”)

“This is a very serious matter,” Clinton said. “They have to come to this meeting on October 1st and present convincing evidence as to the purpose of their nuclear program.”

Iranian leaders need to “open up their entire system to the kind of extensive investigation that the facts call for,” and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have the access they need.

“If we don’t get the answers that we are expecting, and the changes in behavior that we are looking for, then we will work with our partners to move for sanctions,” Clinton said. She described the current sanctions regime in place against Iran as “leaky.”

In its dealings with North Korea’s nuclear program, the international community has “forged an international consensus around very tough sanctions, and that’s given us some additional information about how to proceed on the Iranian front,” Clinton said.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told CNN September 27 that the international community has a variety of sanctions options still available against Iran “including sanctions on banking, particularly sanctions on equipment and technology for their oil and gas industry.”

Gates said there is an opportunity presented by the Geneva meeting and “over the next few weeks” to try to leverage Iran into beginning to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolutions passed in response to its nuclear activities before the international community must resort to a new round of sanctions.

But he added, “I think we are all sensitive to the possibility of the Iranians trying to run the clock out on us. And so nobody thinks of this as an open-ended process.”

The defense secretary told ABC television September 27 that he believes Iran could have a nuclear weapon in “somewhere between one to three years.”

It will be critical for the P5+1 to persuade or convince Iran that “their security will be diminished by trying to get nuclear weapons rather than enhanced,” Gates said.

At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters September 29 that President Obama’s policy of engagement with Iran has now led to “a point in which we are about to confront, face-to-face, on behalf of the world, the intention of the Iranians and their nuclear program.”

“We’ll give [Iran] the opportunity to state for the world and to demonstrate through its actions, not just its words,” Gibbs said.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns will represent the United States at the October 1 meeting. Burns “has worked on this issue for quite some time,” Gibbs said, and was the U.S. representative at the previous P5+1 meeting with Iran that was held in Geneva in July 2008. (See “Rice Says Iran Has Not Been Serious in Nuclear Talks.”)

Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley said September 29 that although the United States is principally interested in addressing Iran’s nuclear activities, it has also “made a clear offer of dialogue with Iran on the larger range of issues.”

In recent years, Iranian and American diplomats have held talks on issues of common concern, especially security and stability in Afghanistan. (See “Stabilizing Afghanistan Common Challenge for America and Iran.”)

Crowley said that if the October 1 meeting “kicks off a broader process, [then] we welcome that,” but said he doubted the P5+1 will “get the full perspective of Iran’s willingness to engage” from just one meeting.

“But clearly, once we are at the table, we hear from them, [and] we see the tone, we’ll know some things. And then … the real question is, are they willing to engage in a process?” he said.

If Iran is willing to address the international community’s concerns, it must demonstrate it by providing information and access to its nuclear sites, as well as doing “the kinds of things that Iran is supposed to do as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but has in the past … been unwilling to do,” Crowley said.

The United States and its partners in the P5+1 are looking for “a meeting that leads to a process that leads to a resolution of the concerns that we have,” he said. But “that process … will take some time, and we’re not going to make a snap judgment on [October 1].”

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