“Negotiation” Strategy, Legitimate Solution in International Cooperation
The issue of the peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the viewpoints of some international players in this regard are among the issues that have attracted the public opinion of the world.
There is no doubt that the access of the Islamic Republic of Iran to nuclear enrichment technology is the developmental right of all countries and this issue is not only reiterated by the UN Charter and the resolutions of the UN General Assembly but is also recognized as a “human right” for all nations of the world.
In the first lines of the introduction to the UN Charter, one of the roots of the establishment of the United Nations is called “…helping social progress and better living conditions …” and the UN General Assembly in several resolutions, including the “The Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States” (Resolution 2625, dated October 24th, 1970), has considered all member governments of the United Nations duty bound to “cooperate in strengthening research and technological grounds in order to speed up the trend of development”.
Furthermore, in the basic documents of human rights (such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), the right to development is recognized as a natural right for all nations despite their racial, political, geographical and religious differences.
Therefore, access to peaceful nuclear technology has been recognized as an example of the objective aspects of development, thus, Article 4 of the NPT has recognized peaceful nuclear activities for all countries.
These realities indicate that the oppositions expressed during the past few years with regard to “having or not having the right to enrichment for our country” is not only a legal difference but its roots must be found in politics and beyond the concepts and regulations of the contemporary international and human rights.
This issue presents itself next to another undeniable reality and that is that the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the firm logic of self-reliance and negation of dependence and in the shadow of the teachings of the great founder of the Islamic Revolution and guidance of the Supreme Leader, has attempted to rely on its natural and national capabilities in order to achieve its legitimate and internationally-recognized rights and localize nuclear science in the highest level of technology of the world. Hence, the Islamic Republic of Iran does not need the agreement of other countries for these rights and will not succumb to their illogical demands.
What is on the agenda of Iran’s Foreign Ministry right now is to clarify the legal and logical basis of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to nuclear technology and stand firm on it.
In other words, although our country’s access to nuclear technology is based on the pre-mentioned principles and based on the strategy of self-reliance which is a non-negotiable issue and does not need the agreement of others, due to the illegality of disputes of some countries with regard to the enrichment right of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the main objective of Iran’s nuclear diplomacy is to enlighten the international political atmosphere. This policy is pursued in order to neutralize the extended attempts made by certain countries to show the Islamic Iran as a threatening and law-escaping country. This issue was expressed in the statements made by the Supreme Leader in April of 2014. He said that “The objective of the arrogant front is to maintain the anti-Iran international atmosphere with the excuse of the nuclear issue. It was on this ground that the proposal of the new administration to negotiate with regard to the nuclear issue was accepted so that this global atmosphere would be broken and the other party would not have the ability of initiative and the truth would be clarified for the public opinion of the world.”
“Negotiation strategy” does not intend to negotiate about the natural and national rights of our country. The objective is to show the logical and legal face of our country to the public opinion of the world and international observers through reminding the rights and responsibilities of the governments in international cooperation in order to achieve sustainable development.
This strategy seeks to challenge the biased measures taken by the UN Security Council and, more unfortunately, the unilateral measures taken by some countries in the imposition of economic sanctions against our country through explaining the legal foundations of Iran’s peaceful activities. It moves towards the lifting of these sanctions which, in fact, violate the commitments of the international community in carrying out its tasks with regard to international cooperation.
Negotiation strategy is aimed at explaining the illegitimate bases of sanctions, on one hand, and proving the false concerns and, of course, removing the possible justifiable ambiguities of some countries with regard to our nuclear activities as an effective and necessary step in the trend of confidence-building and ultimately achieving our national rights.
The Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran which has the task of executing the macro-policies of this country looks to propose the legitimate and legal rights of Iran with strong logic and within the framework of the guidance of the Supreme Leader while knowing the red lines and the programs pursued by the 11th administration. By relying on the basic principles of “Dignity, Wisdom and Expediency”, it also attempts to defeat the plans of the enemies of the country in the political, economic and security areas.
Therefore, the Vienna-6 negotiations focused on this analysis and are considered as a valuable achievement for our country. The reason is that Iran’s nuclear negotiating team showed through its heavy and intensive negotiations that, first, it has the real and necessary determination to achieve a logical, natural, just and comprehensive agreement in order to resolve this issue and, second, it does not pursue this objective at any price and if the basic objectives of negotiations are not provided, it does not insist upon the resolution of differences.
The result of all the above-mentioned necessities and defined objectives for the Foreign Ministry of Iran is manifested in the statements made by the Supreme Leader in February 2014 when he said: “What the Foreign Ministry and government officials have begun with regard to the nuclear negotiations will continue; Iran will not violate its commitments.”