Angela Davis – Radio Voice of Russia: “The US should ease the sanctions because, first of all, these sanctions are harming the daily lives of the ordinary Iranian citizens. And according to many legal experts and many specialists these sanctions are a violation of the fourth Geneva Convention, they are an act war because they harm the ordinary citizens and paralyze their daily lives,” Kourosh Ziabari, Iran-based journalist with a long record of covering Iranian issues.
Can you tell me, what are your expectations for this current round of talks in Geneva with Iran and the group of six? Shall we really expect any breakthrough results?
Of course, since President Rouhani took office earlier this year, he promised to actually take up a path of diplomacy, reconciliation with the international community in order to solve the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program. And I believe at the interim Geneva accord by which Iran agreed to limit portions of its nuclear program in return for some relief from the economic sanctions against Iran was a major breakthrough and it was a major step towards reaching a final and comprehensive deal between Iran and the six word powers or the group P5+1.
So, I’m very hopeful and optimistic that the experts-level talks between Iran and the six world powers will lead to very significant results because Iran has a diplomatic resolve and determination to take part in the negotiations on equal footing and based on mutual respect. However, you know that just recently the US imposed a new round of sanctions against Iran.
Right! I was just going to ask you about that. What is your feeling about that and do you think that that is really going to be a stumbling block, as far as getting anywhere with these talks?
Of course, the new round of sanctions was a violation of the terms of the Geneva accord, but Iran said that it is still determined to continue the talks. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that we don’t consider this new set of sanctions a violation of the Geneva accord. However, it may somehow harm the atmosphere of the talks and may somewhat undermine the determination of the Iranian administration in the face of some criticism it is facing at home by the hardliners.
However, I think that the new administration under President Rouhani can actually realize this goal of putting an end to a decade-long controversy on Iran’s nuclear program. And I’m really optimistic and I believe that all parties in these negotiations, including the US and other members of the group, including Russia, China, Germany, France and the UK should refrain from adopting measures and taking steps which may harm the constructive atmosphere of the talks, including passing resolutions in the UN General Assembly, like as of today, or imposing new sanctions which may violate the terms of the Geneva accord.
But I’m really hopeful, I’m optimistic about the future and I believe that the Government has determination and has the power, and ability to resolve these disputes and actually turn Iran’s dossier into a normal and ordinary dossier like that of Japan and other countries that are producing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Is there anything that could prompt the US to ease sanctions imposed on Iran before any agreement with regard to its nuclear program is reached? Do you think that there is a chance that the US might actually go ahead and ease sanctions to show good will in any case?
Of course, the US should ease the sanctions because, first of all, these sanctions are harming the daily lives of the ordinary Iranian citizens. And according to many legal experts and many specialists these sanctions are a violation of the fourth Geneva Convention, they are an act war because they harm the ordinary citizens and paralyze their daily lives. So, I believe that in order to show its good will, as a confidence-building step the US should remove some of the sanctions.
However, I believe that the Obama administration is facing a very harsh criticism at home by the pro-Israeli congressmen and some of the senators. I believe that in order to reciprocate Iran’s good will gesture, Iran agreed to suspend its 20% enrichment of uranium. In return for this concession made by Iran the US should ease some sanctions and actually also show its resolve to solve the nuclear disputes, and show that it does not want to pressure Iran more in the future. Because the Iranian Government has said that it wants to solve this dispute, it is ready to make concessions and make compromises.
Iran has agreed to stop installing new centrifuges in Natanz and Arak enrichment facilities. So, I think that Iran has shown its good will and now it is the turn of the US to show its good will and actually ease the sanctions. Of course, the sanctions in recent years have put a lot of pressure on the Iranian people. But we should take this issue into consideration that actually the sanctions haven’t stopped the Iran’s nuclear program and this program according to many reports of the IAEA has never meant to be diverted towards weaponization and Iran has always been pursuing a peaceful nuclear program to meet its energy demands in the future.
Iran has always announced and declared that it is opposed to the production of nuclear weapons and that it does not intend to produce an atomic bomb, because it considers the production of nuclear weapons illegal and irreligious, according to its religious tenets and beliefs.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_12_20/US-sanctions-are-harming-daily-lives-of-ordinary-Iranian-citizens-journalist-5991/
Voice of Russia conducted this interview with me last week. You can read it here and download the audio file.