Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

British Report Analyzes West’s Failure in Dealing with Iran’s Nuclear Program | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- A British report has attributed the west’s failure to deal with Iran and its nuclear crisis to Western nation’s’ failure to understand the country’s political and social mechanism.

Hugh Barnes, one of the authors of the report “Understanding Iran: People, Politics and Power “, said yesterday that it is necessary to know the power circles in Tehran and take steps “for existence with Iran. The present Bush administration does not have a policy for diplomatic dealing with Iran but it is impossible not to deal with it.”

The report from the “Foreign Policy Center” a leading European think tank with ties to the British Foreign Office, calls on Britain’s politicians “to talk with all the parties in Iran, especially the reformists, inside and outside the country.” In support of this policy, the center launched the “Iran Program” yesterday to coincide with the report of more than 50 pages about the Iranian political mechanism and the most prominent factors in Iranian society. Barnes also announced that he and Alex Bigham, who co-authored report, would visit Iran and said that the priority in the report is “to provide the information for dealing with Iran that the decision makers lack sometimes, which is extremely serious.” He added, “We must remember that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not have full power in Iran and that Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei has a big role.”

Mark Fitzpatrick, director of Non-Proliferation Programme for International Institute for Strategic Studies” took part in a lecture. He said that Iran would probably acquire a nuclear weapon within a period of three to five years and added, “The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) announced it was expecting this to happen within 10 years. But it is cautious when speculating about the Iranian nuclear program following the mistakes it made when it speculated about the former Iraqi regime’s possession of nuclear weapons.” Fitzpatrick warned the international community against “underrating the capabilities of Iran, which was able to start the process of uranium enrichment and can develop it in secret locations away from our eyes. Iran is moving as quickly as possible to acquire the nuclear weapon.”

Iranian Charge D’Affaires in Britain Hamid Reza Arefi, reiterated his country’s stand on nuclear energy and reminded the audience that the “Iranian oil and gas reserves will be exhausted within few decades. Our only choice is to develop other energy sources.” He added, “Pressures on Tehran are not the suitable solution for the current crisis but negotiations.” Fitzpatrick replied to Arefi by saying “the world acknowledges Iran’s right to have civilian nuclear energy but we have a problem of trust with the Iranian regime.”