Posts tagged : "Iran’s nuclear program"

Kourosh Ziabari: As the representatives of Iran and the six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) held a new round of negotiations in Geneva this week, the international community is waiting anxiously to see whether the decade-long controversy over Iran’s nuclear program can finally come to an end or not. Iran’s newly elected President Hassan Rouhani has vowed to find a resolution to settle his country’s disputes with the world powers in a period of less than one year. He has promised to take up a conciliatory approach toward the West and convince the United States and its allies to freeze the anti-Iranian economic sanctions. In order to discuss the importance of the latest talks...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: It’s more than a decade that Iran and the West are embroiled in an erosive conflict over the former’s nuclear energy program. The United States and its allies insist that Iran intends to produce atomic weapons and uses the peaceful nuclear program as a cover to further its “ambitions” while Iran strongly rejects the allegations, responding that with its growing energy demands as a country with a young population, it should access nuclear power to provide its future generations with alternative, sustainable energy resources. Throughout the past decade, Iran and the P5+1 have held several rounds of talks with the aim of finding a solution to the nuclear standoff. However, the talks were mostly...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: British political scientist and university professor believes that the United States made a mistake in 2001 by pursuing an agenda of isolating Iran, and should have adopted a policy of diplomacy and dialog with Iran instead. “A major opportunity was missed after 2001 and it is imperative that the U.S. does not make the same mistakes it made then by isolating and threatening Iran,” said Prof. Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen in an interview with the Tehran Times. Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen is a Research Fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy at Rice University and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. His research focuses on political and security developments in the...

Kourosh Ziabari - With the recommencement of nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers, hopes have been revived that more than a decade of conflict and dispute between the two sides can finally come to an end and the concerns over the possible diversion of Iran’s nuclear activities toward an atomic weapon will be completely allayed. The international observers hailed the latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States) on October 15 and 16 in Geneva as constructive, calling it a step forward on the path of finding a conclusive and definite resolution for Iran’s nuclear standoff. The Iranian negotiators demanded that the contents of the talks...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: People in Iran and the United States are enthusiastically monitoring the headlines on the newspapers and the TV channels to see if a historic breakthrough between their countries will finally emerge at the critical juncture when the two rivals are expected to strike a deal over the decade-long controversy on Iran’s nuclear program and move toward a momentous normalization of bilateral relations. After the foreign ministers of Iran and the United States met and greeted each other on the sidelines of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, and following the groundbreaking phone conversation between the presidents of the two countries in the final hours of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: As Iran and the six world powers are slated to convene in Geneva on October 15 and 16 to discuss Iran’s nuclear energy program for the first time since the election of President Hassan Rouhani, the international community will anxiously and enthusiastically wait to see if the new round of talks can put an end to the decade-long standoff over Tehran’s nuclear file. The main question ahead of the talks is that whether the new round of negotiations which are being held after a five-month hiatus will finally lead to a negotiated deal and “win-win” solution, as termed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. And for the Iranians across the globe, the more important question is, “will...

Kourosh Ziabari: Prominent political scientist and university professor Nader Entessar says Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s diplomatic efforts at the United Nations were considerably important in restructuring Iran’s foreign relations and should be reciprocated with mutual goodwill gestures by the West. Prof. Nader Entesaar believes that President Rouhani’s outreach to the world is a remarkable step in finding a comprehensive and viable solution to Iran’s nuclear standoff, but the Israeli regime is angry at these overtures and will not welcome any rapprochement or détente between Iran and the West. “Netanyahu’s UN speech was vacuous and vituperative... Any US-Iran rapprochement will not be welcomed by Israeli hawks who...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: In less than 3 days, Iran and the six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) will be sitting at the negotiating table in Geneva to discuss the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program and find ways for getting out of the stalemate that has marred Iran’s relations with the West for more than one decade. Following the victory of Dr. Hassan Rouhani in Iran’s June 14 presidential elections, hopes were revitalized that the nuclear standoff can be resolved as Iran’s new president categorically promised to find a viable, comprehensive and peaceful solution to this erosive confrontation between Iran and the Western powers, including the United...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin believes that the crisis in Syria should be solved through talks and diplomatic efforts, not the use of unilateral force by the external players. “All the efforts have to be sought in order to start the peace process in Syria. I think it’s not going to be facilitated by the use of military force from an external source. I think it should be assured that all the solutions for Syria should remain peaceful. A good move was the decision on the chemical weapons. I think that this is the first step that should continue and go on until finding a lasting solution, but again using military or paramilitary means is not going to be a good service to the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: After delivering that ludicrous speech to the UN and displaying the childish cartoon of a bomb with a fuse to the world leaders in 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again made himself a laughing stock by parroting nonsensical, hallucinatory words about Iran’s nuclear program and its newly-elected President Hassan Rouhani in the 68th session of the UN General Assembly. Bibi Netanyahu described Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a “wolf in the sheep clothing” and dedicated almost all his unfruitful and boring speech to the statements made by President Rouhani in his address to the UN General Assembly’s General Debate. One may think that the Israeli hawk had prepared nothing to say...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Press TV: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s first trip to New York to attend the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly was a benchmark in the course of new administration’s efforts to restructure and renovate Iran’s relations with the world. Aside from his brilliant and promising speech to the General Assembly which was lauded by the domestic political parties, politicians, lawmakers and also praised by the international community, President Rouhani became the shining star among hundreds of international guests there with the interviews he gave to the American media and his meetings with the world leaders on the sidelines of the General Assembly session. President Rouhani who took...

Kourosh Ziabari: Prominent American investigative journalist and political commentator Jeremy R. Hammond says that the sanctions imposed against Iran by the United States and its European allies are illegal and criminal and represent some kind of collective punishment aimed at paralyzing the Iranian government and the livelihood of the Iranian citizens. According to Jeremy R. Hammond, even the US intelligence community has confirmed and verified that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and there has not been any single IAEA report indicating diversion in Iran’s nuclear activities; however, the United States and some EU members are adamantly insisting that Iran has a plan to develop nuclear weapons, while they have no evidence to...