Amid Threats, Iran Hints at Direct Talks

According to a new report from the Associated Press, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is claiming his country would be willing to hold direct talks with Washington over its nuclear program.

Another report from Reuters revived more blustery talk, though, as Khamenei also warned that Iran would destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa if Israel preemptively attacked Iranian nuclear facilities.

The following is further information on the Iranian nuclear program headlines.

Khamenei issues threat to Israel

Khamenei noted he was not optimistic that talks would stop sanctions currently imposed on Iran and strongly supported by the United States at the U.N. Sanctions include a total oil embargo and banking restrictions that make it difficult for non-observers of the embargo to make payments for deliveries. Iran's oil and gas exports are down 50 percent from sanctions, according to the AP.

Reuters reported that in Khamenei's statements he threatened to "raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground" if Israel launched a military invasion.

Diplomatic talks progressing

President Barack Obama was in Israel on Thursday, where he said that "America will do what we must to prevent a nuclear Iran," according to Reuters, but also noted that he and other world leaders agreed diplomacy was still possible before Iran could feasibly achieve its nuclear ambitions.

Russia sounded an optimistic note according to another Reuters report. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's chief negotiator on the subject of a nuclear Iran, said that "this progress is real but it is not sufficient to speak of a definitive shift" regarding talks in Istanbul, but also noted that the progress isn't "irreversible."

The next meeting between the six powers of Russia, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and China with Iran will be April 5 and 6 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Istanbul meeting between the powers was to iron out details of proposals made in the previous round of talks.

U.S., allies concerned about Iranian plutonium-producing reactor

Another report from the AP indicated that while the U.S. and its allies discussing uranium-enrichment production which is a more immediate concern, another part of the nuclear program focuses on the creation of a plutonium-producing reactor that could be functional in the next year.

While Iran claims it won't build a reprocessing plant that would enable plutonium to be used for bombs, Israel doesn't believe that, according to the article. Israel bombed the Osirak reactor in 1982 and a site in Syria that the International Atomic Energy Agency identified as being "very likely" an almost completely built reactor.

Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amid-threats-iran-hints-direct-talks-210700213.html

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