The Iranian regime must suspend its enrichment of uranium and heavy water production, and abide by its obligations to the United Nations and treaty agreements before any nuclear deal with the West can be struck, Canadian MP Irwin Cotler has declared.
The regime must also agree to inform the international community about its past proliferation activities and co-operate fully with IAEA inspectors during the crucial talks in Vienna, Mr Cotler said.
The law professor and former Canadian Attorney General wrote in Chicago Sun Times: “It appears unlikely that an agreement will be reached by the November 24 deadline. Indeed, the best that can be expected by then, according to at least one Western official, is ‘the outline of a final deal, but probably not the deal itself’.”
The reason talks may fail is because it is unlikely Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has given his negotiators the mandate to make the necessary compromises, he said.
Prof Cotler added: “Iranian officials have made it clear that they want to massively increase the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment, while the P5 + 1 states want to reduce the 19,000 currently installed to the low thousands.”
And he set out four key areas where the Iranian regime must yield to the West’s demands during the talks.
Firstly, the regime must implement its obligations under Security Council resolutions and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Secondly, it must suspend its enrichment of uranium so that it cannot use negotiations to ‘buy time for a nuclear breakthrough’.
Thirdly, Iran must suspend its heavy water production at its Arak facility, which is a key component for producing the plutonium cores of nuclear weapons. He said Iran’s failure to comply with a UN Security Council resolution to end construction at Arak and to provide the IAEA with updated information about the reactor’s design since 2006 is ‘unacceptable’.
And fourthly, Iran must inform the international community about its past proliferation activities and its plans to build 10 additional uranium enrichment facilities.
Prof Cotler wrote: “It is Iran’s responsibility to satisfy IAEA concerns regarding enrichment activities at the Fordow and Natanz facilities, plutonium production at Arak, and laser enrichment at Lashkar Ab’ad. It must also provide a substantive response to the IAEA’s information request on Iran’s planned uranium facilities.
“In addition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which exposed Iran’s facilities at Natanz and Arak, now says that it has information about a centre for nuclear weaponization research in Tehran that the regime is attempting to shield from detection.
“Iran’s past tendency of using negotiations to conceal or deflect attention from its nuclear activities, along with the strong desire of the P5+1 to reach an agreement, make a complete collapse of the talks unlikely.
“For future negotiations to successfully curtail Iranian nuclear ambitions, however, Western states, and the United States in particular, will need to ensure that Iran takes concrete steps to comply with the non-proliferation treaties to which it is a party.”