Annual Loss of Nuclear Program: $160 Billion Dollars

Rooz Online

As the fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 major world powers stalled in Vienna last week, the White House issued a warning that time was not limitless and a senior cabinet minister in Ahmadinejad’s administration revealed that the nuclear program cost the country some $160 billion Dollars annually. These and other developments have cast a shadow of doubt on the success of the talks and informed sources have leaked that the differences are over Iran’s military programs.

The mouthpiece of the conservatives and hardliners in Iran, Kayhan newspaper, labeled the last round of talks as “fruitless” as its ayatollah Khamenei-appointed editor Hossein Shariatmadari wrote, “Fortunately, the three day talks between Iran and the P5+1 in Vienna were fruitless. This may sound like a pessimistic and unconventional categorization of the talks but the undeniable reality is that for reasons that have been repeatedly discussed and written, the nuclear talks will never result in a satisfactory outcome.” In this editorial, Shariatmadari also referred to the November 2013 interim nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 as an arrangement in which Iran openly gave a “series of concessions” to the West only to receive promises from it.

Since Hassan Rouhani was elected president in mid-2013 Iran’s hardline conservatists grouped as Principlists have been vocally critical of the administration’s nuclear policies and have said that these will result in that Iran would lose its nuclear rights.

The last round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 to start drafting the final agreement, which the November interim accord deadlines for July this year, failed to make real progress last week. Iran’s negotiator Abbas Araghchi said in this regard, “No tangible progress was made during these talks. The talks were constructive and good but did not reach a specific result. The talks will continue. Lack of progress does not mean that the talks have failed. We have not yet succeeded in putting down the issues on paper. The talks will resume in June and we shall have two more rounds.”

Principlists called the situation as a “deadlock” or “deadend” but the most senior advisor to ayatollah Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati announced, “I do not believe that the talks have reached a deadend, and they will continue and the Islamic republic supports the continuation of the talks.”

In a separate but related development, Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson of the Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced that a team from the International Atomic Energy Organization would be visiting Iran next week to resolve the agency’s concerns. According to him, “During the last six months, Iran has undertaken steps in two phases to resolve the ambiguities and questions that the IAEA has. During the first phase some six specific steps were taken while during the second phase seven more were added. These steps included exchanges of written and verbal information and site visits. We responded to the specific requests of the IAEA by providing them the requested information.”

Iran’s state run ISNA student news agency reported that according to an agreement that Iran had reached with the IAEA, there were some 13 items regarding Iran’s nuclear program that needed to be addressed, all of which were addressed during the second phase of the action plan.

Last Friday, the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, Ahmad el-Hoda who is also a member of the influential Experts Assembly on Leadership announced, “It is not right to sit with a dirty party to resolve problems.”

Principlist politicians have on numerous occasions attributed their dissatisfaction of the talks to the country’s supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei. For example, Mohammad Ismail Kowsari had said after the first round of talks, “senior authorities” of the Islamic republic were critical of the interim agreement which is why they had issued the order to create a special supervisory council to overlook the talks. This council was made up of the president, the minister of foreign affairs, the head of the Majlis and the heads of the national security committee of the Majlis.

Another principlist, Javad Karimi Ghodoosi, who is also a former Majlis speaker, had said that in his meeting with ayatollah Khamenei, the leader had been critical of the agreement.

Ayatollah Khamenei himself has not directly criticized the interim agreement or the nuclear talks although he has expressly said that he is not optimistic about its outcome. “Some members of the former and current administration believe that if talks are held over the nuclear issue, the problem will be solved. I said it in the beginning of the year that I am not optimistic over the talks and they will not produce results but I am not opposed to them either.”