Iran Protests Treatment by West

Said Jalili, the chief nuclear negotiator for Iran, has sent a letter of protest to Javier Solana, foreign policy of the European Union, expressing his country's concerns about how the west is treating Iran with regard to its suspected nuclear weapons program.

AFP cited Iran's Supreme National Security Council office as saying the protest letter had been delivered October 6 by Iranian ambassador to Brussels Ali Asghar Khaji. Foreign Ministers courtesy copied on the letter included the ministers of the United States, France, Russia, China, Great Britain and Germany.

The United States and the European Union have been going around and around with Iran on this issue for five years. Tehran has given the west no reason to believe it is not stalling for more time while continuing to work on its nuclear program. Three rounds of weak sanctions have had no discernible effect, and any fourth round is likely to be meaningless given the veto power of both Russia and China, two countries heavily invested in Iran.

The following is some of the text of the letter, which can be found here.

"His Excellency Dr. Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy/Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union and Representative of the six countries.

"Excellency,

"In view of the Geneva Talks and the emphasis of both sides on presenting a clear response to each other, the Islamic Republic of Iran in its letter of 5 August 2008 expressed its readiness to offer transparent response vis-à-vis reciting clear replies to its questions.

"Soon after, while welcoming this approach you asked in your telephone conversation of 11 August 2008 that our deputies have a meeting to discuss these ambiguities and questions. However, despite the readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran, your deputy was not ready to have this meeting even 17 days after that date.