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Iranian President Said Seeking South African Role in Nuclear Row

Posted on: Monday, 19 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report by Joe Lauria entitled "Iran wants South Africa to be part of broader nuclear negotiations" published by South African newspaper The Star website on 19 September

South Africa is being courted by both sides in the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, with its crucial vote on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors up for grabs.

That vote may be held as early as this week.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met President Thabo Mbeki over the past two days in New York to lobby South Africa for its swing vote.

Iran has asked South Africa to become formally involved in the fraught negotiations between itself and the European Union. The US and the EU are to present a draft resolution to the IAEA in Vienna this week, recommending that Iran's nuclear ambitions be brought before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions against Tehran.

A spokesperson for Rice said the talks with Mbeki had been constructive but that South Africa had not yet decided which way to vote. "I think they were more in a position of watching how the diplomacy unfolds," said State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack.

In New York, spokespeople for Mbeki declined to comment.

For Iran's part, President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad has invited South Africa to join the so-called EU-3 - Britain, Germany and France- that had been negotiating a deal to stop Tehran from converting uranium. Ahmadinezhad addressed the opening day of the 60th anniversary UN General Assembly meeting on Saturday [18 September].

Either his remarks about South Africa were not translated into English or he did not present them in spoken discussion. But they were contained in an English text of the speech circulated at the UN by Iran's permanent mission to the UN. "The Islamic Republic of Iran appreciates the positive contribution of South Africa and Mbeki personally in the resolution of the nuclear issue," Ahmadinezhad's text said.

It said Iran was "cognizant of South Africa's active role in the IAEA board of governors and would welcome its active participation in the negotiations".

In a press conference later on Saturday, Ahmadinezhad said: "I thanked South Africa. They can potentially be a negotiating partner."

An unnamed EU official was quoted as saying that Iran could speak to other countries about its nuclear programme but that they could not join the EU-3. The EU-3, with Washington's backing, negotiated a deal with Tehran last November in which Iran would receive political and economic incentives in exchange for ending its uranium conversion programme.

The EU-3 and the US suspect that Iran ultimately intends to use this converted uranium to make nuclear weapons.

Among the incentives considered was that Washington would drop its opposition to Iran's membership of the World Trade Organization and to the sale of spare parts for Iran's ageing fleet of US-made civilian airliners.

The deal was called off last month when Iran said it had resumed uranium conversion. EU officials say talks would not restart unless Iran halts the conversion.

Source: BBC Monitoring Africa

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