04/10/2013 00:00
TW
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by RAY FLEMING
EXPERIENCE warns against reading too much into the apparently successful meeting in Geneva on Thursday between Iran and the Group of Six -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. The fact that the preliminary discussion between the US delegate, William Burns, and Iran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was the first official meeting between representatives of these two countries for thirty years shows just how difficult the bridge of Thursday's meeting has been to build. Insofar as it is desirable to establish who blinked first, the truth is probably that rather differently phrased speeches by Barack Obama and Iran's President Ahmadinejad acknowledging the benefits of meetings based on mutual respect has enabled progress to be made.

The Group of Six was tactically fortunate in that Iran's tardy and severely criticised announcement of a hidden second nuclear facility one week ago gave it an advantage in insisting that Iran's nuclear programme should be at the top of the agenda for the talks. As a result the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the mountain site was confirmed and an unexpected agreement by Iran to allow most of its stockpile of nuclear fuel outside the country was also reached in principle. The united front presented by the Group of Six must have impressed Iran's negotiators. Russia's disappointment in having been misled by Iran over the existence of a second nuclear facility may also have been a key factor in the change of mood round the Geneva table.