海角大神

Iran鈥檚 failure to make progress in nuclear negotiations with six world powers came under fierce attack as conservative presidential candidates clashed over inept and 鈥渇ruitless鈥� diplomacy one week before Iranians go to the polls.

Iran鈥檚 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is known to make all final decisions on nuclear policy, and to shape the parameters of Iran鈥檚 negotiating strategy. But the two men with perhaps the most influence to carry out those directives 鈥� both of them presidential candidates 鈥撀爌ublicly revealed wide disagreement during a live television debate on Friday.

The debate was the third marathon session for all eight approved presidential candidates, and focused on a range of issues, from "unsuccessful" past foreign policy performance to ending sanctions and challenging American "hegemony."

But the headline-grabbing eruption came over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

Iran鈥檚 top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, faced withering criticism for winning no diplomatic result after almost 1-陆 years of high level nuclear talks with the P5+1 group (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany), while the US and Western nations continue to impose increasingly harsh sanctions on Iran.

Mr. Jalili, who is considered close to Ayatollah Khamenei and therefore聽a frontrunner in the presidential race, was taken to task by none other than Khamenei鈥檚 top foreign policy adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister for 16 years who is also considered a Khamenei favorite for the June 14 vote.

鈥淵ou want to take three steps and you expect the other side to take 100 steps, this means that you don鈥檛 want to make progress,鈥� charged Mr. Velayati, addressing Jalili near the three-hour mark in the debate. 鈥淭his is not diplomacy鈥�. We can鈥檛 expect everything and give nothing.鈥�

The contemptuous exchange revealed for the first time divisions at the very top over Iran鈥檚 negotiating tactics, as well as the impact of the stalemate and the stress of increased sanctions. The US Congress this week added more measures against Iran, kicking off a summer legislative campaign that appears aimed at choking back Iran鈥檚 oil exports to virtually nothing. 聽

鈥淲ell, Dr. Jalili, speaking of diplomacy, it鈥檚 not a philosophy class to say that our logic was strong,鈥� said Velayati, responding to Jalili's efforts to defend his performance. 鈥淵ou have been in charge of the nuclear issue, we have not made a step forward, and the [sanctions] pressure has been exerted on the people.鈥�

Velayati further admonished Jalili: 鈥淏eing conservative does not mean being inflexible and stubborn." Diplomacy, he added, does not mean to just 鈥済ive a sermon to other countries,鈥� hold press conferences, and 鈥渟it at the [negotiating] table and say something without doing anything else.鈥�

'Absolutely false'

Jalili fought back angrily, bringing energy to the debates and campaigns by relatively bland candidates that have so far failed to spark popular interest. He said聽Velayati鈥檚 description of his nuclear efforts were 鈥渁bsolutely false,鈥� and implied that they had the approval of Khamenei. He said he was pursuing a foreign policy based on 鈥減ure Islam鈥� and that Iran must get something of value in return.

Velayati said Jalili had missed important opportunities, including most recently at two rounds of talks earlier this spring in the Kazakh city of Almaty. The P5+1 offered at the time to provide modest sanctions relief if Iran gave up its most sensitive nuclear work.

P5+1 diplomats portray that proposal as 鈥渧ery reasonable and balanced,鈥� though the top US negotiator, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, testified to Congress last month that Iran responded by 鈥減utting very little on the table and asking a lot in return.鈥� 聽The P5+1 offer was also very modest, she noted, saying that 鈥渁lthough the sanctions relief we put on the table is not significant, it is meaningful.鈥�

Jalili had instead asked that all sanctions be removed in exchange for taking those steps, and later told the Monitor that the P5+1 鈥減roposals are unbalanced,鈥澛爏ince the most damaging sanctions 鈥� restricting oil exports and central bank transactions 鈥� would remain in place. No date has been set for future talks.

Velayati portrayed the talks in Almaty as wasted opportunities for Iran, hinting that Jalili should have accepted the offer as an interim step.

鈥淚n the last meetings Mr. Jalili had in Almaty, they offered some proposals. On the basis of those proposals, we could make some progress. He did not accept those proposals,鈥� said Velayati.

Iran was being asked to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent 鈥撀燼 level not too far technically from the 90 percent purity needed to make a weapon, and that also makes parts of a deeply buried facility at Fordow inoperable. Iran officially rejects nuclear weapons as un-Islamic, and says it only aims to to use its nuclear expertise for peaceful power production and medical needs.

Jalili replied that Velayati had misinterpreted events, and that the precise record had been "submitted" to Khamenei:聽鈥淚f your other information is just like this last piece of news, then it鈥檚 absolutely wrong."

鈥淭he question is what did we get in return?鈥� asked Jalili. 鈥淵ou [Velayati] shouldn鈥檛 simply manipulate the information and the news, and what you said about Almaty is absolutely wrong, everything is recorded, everything is registered. I should tell our people that there in Almaty we told them: 鈥榃e are ready to take reciprocal steps, you take one step, we鈥檒l take another. If you go 5 kilometers or 25 kilometers, we will go [the same].鈥� The British envoy said, 鈥楢re you ready to do that now?鈥� And we said, 鈥榊es, if you go 25 kilometers we will go 25聽kilometers.鈥� 鈥�

Velayati described publicly for the first time what he called two other missed opportunities as Iran鈥檚 nuclear issue was taken up by the UN Security Council. Since 2006, the UN has imposed four sets of sanctions.

Years ago, Velayati said, he had held a previously unannounced, hour-long conversation in Paris with then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and they had agreed on a number of centrifuges and continued but limited Iranian enrichment. That deal fell through, along with another one that had brought Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran in 2007, which had become 鈥渟omehow tarnished,鈥� said Velayati.

Velayati said that 鈥渢he art of the diplomat鈥� is to prevent efforts being 鈥渨asted鈥� and made 鈥渦seless" 鈥� implying that Jalili was falling far short of his appointed task.

Velayati's charges brought other candidates into the fray, and he also came under criticism. Velayati鈥檚 poor delivery of his set-piece remarks 鈥� he read his short speech as if he were unfamiliar with it 鈥撀燾ame as the conservative Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf asked about the 1980s Iran-Iraq war: 鈥淚f you are such an expert negotiator, how come you didn鈥檛 get a penny in Iraq war reparations?鈥�

Hassan Rohani, a moderate candidate and former top nuclear negotiator who has come under criticism from hardliners like Jalili for making a compromise with European diplomats to suspend enrichment from 2003 to 2005, weighed up the costs of continued nuclear defiance.

鈥淎ll of our problems stem from this 鈥� that we didn鈥檛 make the utmost effort to prevent the [nuclear] dossier from going to the UN Security Council,鈥� Mr. Rohani said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to have [uranium enrichment] centrifuges running, providing people鈥檚 lives and sustenance are also spinning.鈥�