Alireza Sheikh Attar spoke about the lack of a strong political figure in the European negotiating team and said; “Europe's problem is that they do not have thoughtful, analytical and decision-making politicians, and the ...
"Without Scrawl" program had a phone call interview with Dr. Alireza Sheikh Attar, the Iranian veteran diplomat regarding Vienna talks.
Alireza Sheikh Attar spoke about the differences in the way and organization of the negotiations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and that of P4+1 and stated; “Since the thirteenth government was elected, a preliminary plan had been provided for the government, which was approved by the parliament last year. The lifting of sanctions and the instructions of our Supreme Leader constitute these two roadmaps.”
He added; “These two roadmaps marked the top and the bottom of Iran's demands regarding the nuclear talks and the return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Despite disagreements within the country, these roadmaps were determining and final. Since the ideological system of our officials is based on the belief in the Supreme Leader and has an almost fixed definition of national interests, we clarified the course of negotiations for the Iranian negotiating team as well as the other parties.”
In his interview with Radio Goftogoo, the Iranian veteran diplomat pointed out the differences in the composition of the P4 + 1 negotiators; “There are Russia and China in P4+1, which for various reasons including change of the political arrangement at the international level, have serious problems with the United States and to some extent with Europe. China and Russia, unlike the previous round of the JCPOA talks, have different views, which are somewhat closer to the views of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
He then spoke about the three European countries in P4+1; “Britain, Germany and France lack a strong political figure. The three prime ministers of the three countries each have many internal problems; the British Prime Minister is facing political problems over his birthday party and not observing the quarantine. The German Chancellor has just been elected, and of course he has never been a prominent figure in the past. Macron is also the least popular in France in the history of this country.”
“Europe's problem is that it does not have a thoughtful, analytical and decision-making politician, and the foreign ministers of the three European countries are in the same situation because they’re of little diplomatic experience,” he emphasized.
He asserted that the differences between Europe and the United States are still there; “Although these differences widened under Trump’s presidency, Biden is no different because the US president does not want Europe to be an equal partner with the United States. On the other hand, after stepping out of the JCPOA, the United States is not a member of the negotiating team, but due to its effectiveness in removing obstacles, Iran agreed with their being present on the sidelines of the talks.”
By Zahra Judaki
