The European Union effort to persuade Iran to give up its suspected nuclear weapons drive has "a 50-50 chance of success," a senor European official said in Washington Thursday, but the odds would improve if the Bush administration increased its level of support. Three EU countries -- Britain, Germany, and France -- spearhead the carrot-and-stick strategy designed to persuade the ayatollahs in Tehran to stop uranium enrichment, a prerequisite to producing nuclear weapons, and declare peaceful intentions in developing nuclear power. Iran's failure to cooperate would lead to Tehran being referred to the U.N. Security Council, with sanctions to follow.
The so-called EU3 are trying to persuade Washington to add more concessions to the package.
"It's not always easy to negotiate with the Iranians," the official said. "If we could add U.S. carrots it could be an offer they can't refuse."
Last month, in a major policy shift the United States agreed to join the EU3 offer of economic help for Iran. The Bush administration said it would lift its objections to Iranian membership of the World Trade Organization, and its ban to Tehran purchasing much needed spare parts for its commercial airline fleet.
The official said he believed Washington could further tempt the Iranians by resuming diplomatic relations, which he agreed was "a very sensitive subject." Diplomatic ties have been severed since Iranian revolutionary guards overran the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held its staff hostage for 444 days. While observers say resumption of ties would be a tall order, they say the U.S. concessions to Tehran came despite comments in January by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who included Iran as one of several global "outposts of tyranny," so attitudes do change.
In the long term, the official believes the West would probably also have to offer Tehran "some kind of security guarantees." The Iranians will argue, "Pakistan has nuclear weapons, so does India, and so does Israel, we live in a dangerous neighborhood," he said.
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On Wednesday, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi refused to comment on the diplomatic clash that's building up over the U.S. findings of an inquiry into the March 4 friendly fire incident in Baghdad in which an Italian intelligence agent was killed. The report, not yet published, is said to exonerate of any wrongdoing the American troops who shot Nicola Calipari at a checkpoint on the road to Baghdad International Airport. Based on the Italian version of the facts, however, a decision of non-culpability can only seem like a whitewash. So by Thursday, faced with growing pressure from the opposition, Berlusconi had changed his mind.
Although the inquiry was carried out jointly with Italian officials, the conservative prime minister said, "If disagreements remain (about what really happened),
Abercrombie and Fitch Hat, we're never going to sign off on anything with which we don't agree. The U.S. administration is having internal problems with the Pentagon. The Pentagon has a position, and the administration would like that position to be more flexible." The Italian government was dealing with Washington through Mel Sembler, the outgoing U.S. ambassador in Rome. "He has to deal with the Pentagon, and that's not an easy thing,
Supra Style," Berlusconi said. "If our two versions were to continue to disagree, we will have to draw our own divergent conclusions."
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Spain's charm offensive in Washington marches on. Two weeks ago, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos had his first meeting with his American counterpart since the November presidential elections. It was only the Spaniard's second trip to Washington since the March 14, 2004, elections brought Spain's Socialists to power. Then came Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso for talks on terrorism cooperation with Attorney General Alberto Gonazales. Next week, it will be Defense Minister Jose Bono's turn to find himself inside the Beltway. A politician with a well-earned reputation for toughness and blunt speech, Bono was last in town a year ago when he broke the news to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that Spain was pulling its troops out of Iraq. After Bono, comes Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, who arrives in two weeks. Conspicuously absent from the list of visiting Spaniards is Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,
abercrombie & fitch outlet, not yet forgiven by the Bush administration for starting the rot in the U.S.-led Iraq coalition -- and for ousting President Bush's ally Jose Maria Aznar.Topics related articles：
