Iran
nuclear talks limp forward By
Kaveh L Afrasiabi
A lengthy meeting in
Turkey between Iran and the European Union on
Tuesday failed to result in any tangible progress
except an agreement to hold a follow-up meeting at
experts level.
In the present context of
rising tensions between Iran and Israel, this
agreement to meet again reflects European wariness
of Middle East tensions impacting on their
troubled economies.
The meeting in
Istanbul, between Helga Schmidt, deputy to
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's High
Representative and Ali Bagheri, deputy head of
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was
scheduled at the previous multilateral meeting in
Moscow.
That confab was likely the last
high-level meeting that will be held
on the Iran nuclear issue
until the US presidential elections are concluded
in November. Whether Barack Obama is returned as
president or Mitt Romney replaces him, either will
likely be able to steer Iran policy with greater
authority than is the case today.
Whatever
the political calculations in the US, the
Europeans have their own concerns. France this
week announced some 8,000 job cuts, and Iranian
officials say the carmaker is facing problems due
to its refusal to sell spare parts to Iran in line
with Western-led sanctions.
Iranian
Ministry of Industries, Mines and Commerce Mohsen
Salehi told Iranian media on Sunday, "it seems
that that the sanctions on Iran have had a
debilitating effect on the company in recent
months".
Europe is also feeling
increasingly nervous over energy security, an
issue that has become somewhat more pronounced as
a result of the oil sanctions on Iran, though
these are less rather severe due to the extensive
exemptions that will last for until early 2013.
The threat of rising tensions in the
Persian Gulf also isn't likely far from the minds
of European policy-makers, giving them all the
more reason to be increasingly concerned about
avoiding a total breakdown in Iran nuclear talks,
irrespective of new Israeli allegations of
Iran-Hezbollah involvement in last week's deadly
bombing of a buses carrying Israeli tourists in
Bulgaria, which claimed the lives of five Israeli
tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver.
Signs of a false-flag
operation Slowly but surely, evidence is
emerging that suggests this attack was a
sophisticated Israeli false-flag operation. This
includes a new amateur video that corroborates
this author's theory that the targeted bus was
empty and only the passengers in the adjacent bus
were impacted. [1]
As this author asked in
Al-Qaeda
emerges as bus bomb suspect[Asia Times Online,
Jul 24, '12], how could so many bus passengers
escape with only cosmetic hand and leg injuries,
without severe facial and head burns? What about
the second bus driver and guides from the Israeli
travel operator company, who per a report in
Israel, had received an earlier warning that the
arriving Israelis would be "greeted by two bombs"?
These, together with the ferocity of
Israeli leaders' accusation of Iran and Hezbollah,
the curious timing coincidence with the 18th
anniversary of the Argentine bombing, adds
credibility to growing speculation that this was
yet another Israeli "false flag" operation, aimed
at gaining the upper hands in the battle for world
public opinion.
The "false flag" theory
must be studied in tandem with the other
scenarios.
Question are also raised by the
science behind the bomb's impact. Given the
destructive velocity of three kilograms of TNT
explosive in a confined environment, [2] the large
number of lightly-affected passengers raises
doubts over the official story about the Burgas
bomb attack. This issue that has yet to be tackled
by the international media, which has adopted as
an article of faith the story that a bus "crowded
with Israelis" was blown up.
One cannot
expect the Bulgarian government to come forward
with damning evidence that would point the finger
at the Israelis, who crowd Bulgaria's beach-side
hotels and contribute a huge sum to the troubled
and corrupt Bulgarian economy. US President Barack
Obama has leaned on Sofia as well, sending a
discrete message praising their "reliability".
Yet, the Europeans appear unwilling to
become full participants in this new game, in
light of the EU's rejection of Israel's demand to
add Hezbollah to its terror list, citing the
absence of "tangible evidence." That is a clear
affront to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
claims about "rock solid" evidence of Iran and
Hezbollah's guilt.
Considering the
negative publicity campaign launched by Israel and
the US following the Burgas bomb attack, it is
significant that European are still seeking
further engagement on the Iran nuclear issue. This
reflects European concerns about the intermediate
and long-term effect of Iran sanctions, as well as
spillover of other Middle East conflicts, above
all from Syria. As such tensions grow, Europe may
be forced to awaken from its slumber of following
the US and Israel's lead on Iran.
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