NEWS,19.09.2012

Russia expels 'meddling' USAid

Russia on Wednesday said it had given USAid until 1 October to halt its work as the US aid agency was meddling in domestic politics, a move that risks sparking a new diplomatic crisis with Washington.The termination of the US Agency for International Development's activities may also harm the operations of a string of NGOs that rely on its funding, including the vote monitor Golos that showed up irregularities in recent polls.The unexpected move appears part of an increasing crackdown in Russia on civil society after President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin for a third term in May amid an outburst of street protests"The decision was taken mainly because the work of the agency's officials far from always responded to the stated goals of development and humanitarian co-operation," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement."We are talking about attempts to influence political processes - including elections at different levels - through its distribution of grants," it added.USAid's activities "must be halted from October 1", it added, giving a short deadline that had not been revealed by the Americans when the decision was first made public in Washington on Tuesday.'Heavy blow'Anxious Russian NGOs expressed fears for their future financing - more than half of USAid's annual budget in Russia had been spent on democracy and civil society programmes as well as a substantial chunk on health projects."I am very sorry that the USAid office is closing," said Arseny Roginsky, the chairperson of Memorial, Russia's best-known campaigner for human rights and the preservation of historical memory across the country."It is impossible not to see here the continuation of the isolationist policy" of the Russian authorities, he added. Without giving further details, he described the material help of USAid as "significant".Lilia Shibanova, the director of Golos, described the halt in USAid's operations as a "heavy blow".She said there was now serious concern for the funding of its monitoring of local elections on 14 October, two weeks after the deadline for the closure of the USAid office."The problem is that as soon as Russian business starts giving funds to monitor elections it comes under pressure," she said.No need of 'external leadership'Viktor Kremenyuk, analyst with the USA-Canada Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that while the move was not an outright U-turn in foreign policy, it was a Kremlin "gesture aimed at worsening relations between Russia and the US"."Russia wants to say 'we do not need your help, we can stand on our own feet'," he said.The foreign ministry statement said that Russian civil society was "quite mature" and the country - now itself a foreign donor - was in no need of "external leadership".The expulsion of USAid comes after Putin signed a law forcing NGOs that receive funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents". He has even compared organisations like Golos to the disciple Judas who betrayed Jesus.A senior US administration official said that Washington regretted the decision, which according to a US government source also affects the future of 13 US staff in Moscow and 60 Russian staff."This is a difficult day for USAid," said the official, who asked not to be named.Similar incidents It is unclear whether some if any US funding of the organisations can continue but the official said that President Barack Obama's administration was committed to promoting civil society in Russia."Over the coming weeks and months the Obama administration will be looking at ways to advance our old foreign policy objectives using new means," said the official.The United States had first learned of the measure when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the Apec summit in Vladivostok earlier this month, the official said.The departure of USAid echoes the 2007 clampdown on the activities of the British Council cultural agency which poisoned relations between Moscow and London. The US Peace Corps had also been asked to leave Russia in 2002.

Japan cabinet approves plan to exit nuclear energy

Japan's cabinet has approved a new energy plan to cut the country's reliance on nuclear power in the wake of last year's Fukushima disaster, but dropped a reference to meet a nuclear- free target by the 2030s, ministers said on Wednesday.Since the plan was announced on Friday, Japan's powerful industry lobbies have urged the government rethink the nuclear-free commitment, arguing it could damage the economy and would mean spending more on pricey fuel imports.Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who also oversees the energy portfolio, said the cabinet had approved the new energy plan."But whether we can become nuclear free by the 2030s is not something to be achieved only with a decision by policy makers. It also depends on the will of (electricity) users, technological innovation and the environment for energy internationally in the next decade or two," he said.In abandoning atomic power, Japan aims to triple the share of renewable power to 30 percent of its energy mix by the 2030s, but will remain a top importer of oil, coal and gas for the foreseeable future.Finance Minister Jun Azumi told a separate news conference that there needed to be flexibility in the policy to avoid putting a burden on the public in a country where nuclear supplied 30% of electricity before Fukushima.All but two of Japan's nuclear 50 reactors are idled for safety checks after an earthquake and tsunami in March 2 011 devastated the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.Under the new energy plan, there should be strict implementation of a 40-year lifetime for reactors. It also said existing reactors shut after Fukushima should be restarted only if a new nuclear regulator confirms their safety and there should be no construction of new reactors.The newly established Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) will decide whether reactors currently under construction are safe enough to start commercial operations, Edano said.Asked if newly built reactors could run beyond the 2030s, Edano said a decision on this would be decided later.Reactors currently under construction include the 1,373-megawatt Shimane No.3 unit of Chugoku Electric Power Co's and the 1,383-megawatt Ohma unit of Electric Power Development Co's.

Wealth surge for richest Americans

The net worth of the richest Americans grew by 13% in the past year to $US1.7 trillion, Forbes magazine said today, and a familiar cast of characters once again populated the top of the magazine's annual list of the US uber-elite, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison and the Koch brothers.The average net worth of the 400 wealthiest Americans rose to a record $US4.2 billion, the magazine said.Collectively, this group's net worth is the equivalent of one-eighth of the entire US economy, which stood at $US13.56 trillion in real terms according to the latest government data.But the 13% growth in the wealth of the richest Americans far outpaced that of the economy overall, helping widen the chasm between rich and poor.Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp, topped the list for the 19th year in a row with $US66 billion, up $US7 billion from a year earlier.Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of insurance conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, stood second with $US46 billion, followed by Larry Ellison, head of software maker Oracle Corp, with $US41 billion; and the Koch brothers, Charles and David, who run the energy and chemicals conglomerate that bears their name, Koch Industries, were tied for fourth with $US31 billion, Forbes said.The ranks of the top five were unchanged from a year earlier.Two notable names dropped from the top 10, however.Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, also active in conservative political causes, fell to the 12 spot from No. 8 last year, and financier George Soros dropped five spots to No. 12 from the No. 7 position one year ago.The disappointing stock market debut of Facebook also took a toll on the fortune of its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.His net worth fell by nearly half to $US9.4 billion, and he slid to the No. 36 slot from No. 14 a year ago, Forbes said.

NEWS, 26.05.2012.

I made Russia a freer country: Medvedev

 

President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia had become a freer nation during his four-year term, citing the mass protests of recent months as evidence of change."Spring has come to us, both literally and figuratively. I congratulate you," Medvedev said in a live television interview, his last before he hands the presidency back to Vladimir Putin."Freedom," Medvedev sighed and smiled, "is such a unique feeling that everyone interprets differently."Freedom is a sense of self. And in this sense we've done a lot," he told a group of liberal journalists,who are usually sidelined for their sceptical stance towards the government.Medvedev's political mentor Putin, who became his prime minister after being barred by the constitution from serving more than two successive presidential terms, announced plans in September to return to the Kremlin in a job swap with his close ally.That announcement coupled with fraud-tainted parliamentary polls in December led to the largest protests since the Soviet era, when tens of thousands rallied in Moscow protesting Putin's comeback.Protests lose stingBoth Medvedev and Putin have in the past sought to stress that the protests were the hallmark of a democratic society, and introduced cosmetic political reforms that many analysts called a concession to protesters."Let's ask people who took to various squares whether they are free or not," Medvedev said."It is not important who they support: 'the white', 'the red' or 'the blue'. I am absolutely confident that the overwhelming majority of them will say: 'Yes, I am free because I stand here, I have my own position, I do not like a lot, or on the contrary, I like practically everything, don't you dare touch it. I am free'.""The current accelerated movement towards democracy will not lead to chaos," Medvedev added. "Society has matured."The nascent protest movement has lost much of its sting since Putin's crushing 4 March presidential victory, although it still hopes to muster another major demonstration in Moscow the day before Putin's 7 May inauguration.Medvedev defended his decision to cede the country's top job which has earned him mockery from the liberal opposition and many ordinary Russians calling him a mere seat-warmer incapable of promoting true reform.Hunger strike"We've achieved the political results we were hoping for," said Medvedev, who expects to be appointed prime minister when Putin moves back to the Kremlin."The decisions that were announced in September have been confirmed by political practice and it, as we know, is a criterion of truth.""We've thought it all up not to warm ourselves up but to receive a concrete political result. And we've received it, we've received a mandate to rule," he said.But the outgoing president also spoke disparagingly of the recent 40-day hunger strike by opposition politician Oleg Shein in the southern city of Astrakhan in protest at alleged violations in mayoral elections that he contested."I do not blame anyone. But 'Hunger Games' - I will remind you, is a rather mediocre Hollywood blockbuster, I don't know whether you've watched it or not, I have - whoever does it very often pursues a very obvious political goal."He defended his presidential decisions including the sacking of governors and the reform of the bloated police force, reiterating that Russia's most prominent prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky would not be allowed to walk free unless he asked for pardon."Without a request there cannot be a review. This is my firm position."Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky is set to stay in jail until 2016 after being convicted in two fraud trials in what his supporters say is a case of personal vendetta on the part of Putin.

 

Iran: Enriched uranium traces a 'technical issue'

 

A top Iranian nuclear negotiator said that traces of enriched uranium discovered at an underground bunker came from a "routine technical issue," the country's official IRNA news agency reported Saturday.Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, was responding to a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that said it had found radioactive traces at an Iranian nuclear site. The uranium found had been enriched to a level that is slightly closer to the threshold needed for nuclear weapons than Iran's previous highest-known enrichment grade.The IAEA said in the confidential report obtained Friday by The Associated Press that it was asking Tehran for a full explanation about the traces. But the report was careful to avoid any suggestion that Iran was intentionally increasing the level of its uranium enrichment.Tehran said the find was a technical glitch, according to the report. Analysts and diplomats said Iran's version sounded plausible.The West suspects Iran is pursuing a weapons program. Tehran denies the charge, saying its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful purposes like power generation and cancer treatment.Soltanieh said the report on Iran's nuclear activities was "historic evidence" that proved the peaceful nature of Iranian nuclear activities, while the uranium discovery was blown out of proportion for political reasons."This issue shows that some intend to damage the existing constructive cooperation between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency," he was quoted as saying.The higher the enrichment, the easier it becomes to re-enrich uranium to the 90 percent needed for weapons grade. As a result, the finding of traces at 27 percent at the Fordo enrichment plant in central Iran sparked international interest.Iran denies any plans to develop nuclear weapons, but has for years declined offers of reactor fuel from abroad, including more recent inducements of 20-percent material if it stops Aproducing at that level. The Islamic Republic says it wants to continue producing 20 percent uranium to fuel its research reactor and for medical purposes.But its refusal to accept foreign offers has increased fears Tehran may want to turn its enrichment activities toward producing such arms. The concerns have been fed by IAEA suspicions that Iran has experimented on components of an atomic arms program — suspicions Tehran also denies.The report cited a May 9 letter from Iranian officials suggesting any enrichment at 27 percent was inadvertent. The letter said the particles were produced "above the target value" and could have been for "technical reasons beyond the operator's control."But the IAEA report did detail some progress in talks between the U.N. nuclear agency and Iran that the agency hopes will relaunch a long-stalled probe into the suspicions that Tehran has worked on nuclear-weapons related experiments.Amano will handover the report on Iran's nuclear activities to the board of directors of the agency later in June.IRNA also reported that Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said Saturday that Tehran will not open the Parchin site until the agency convinces the country it is necessary."If a visit to Parchin is to happen, they should convince us in advance. So far, no reason and evidence has been handed to us," Abbas was quoted as saying.After a short visit to Tehran last week, Amano said Iran and the agency will sign an agreement on inspection to the site, soon.

NEWS,25.5.2012

Higher enrichment at Iranian site

The UN atomic agency has found evidence at an underground bunker in Iran that could mean the country has moved closer to producing the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles, diplomats said on Friday.The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found traces of uranium enriched up to 27% at Iran's Fordo enrichment plant, the diplomats told The Associated Press.That is still substantially below the 90% level needed to make the fissile core of nuclear arms. But it is above Iran's highest-known enrichment grade, which is close to 20%, and which already can be turned into weapons-grade material much more quickly than the Islamic Republic's main stockpile, which can only be used for fuel at around 3.5%.The diplomats - who demanded anonymity because their information is privileged - said the find did not necessarily mean that Iran was covertly raising its enrichment threshold toward weapons-grade level. They said one likely explanation was that the centrifuges that produce enriched uranium initially over-enriched at the start as technicians adjusted their output - an assessment shared by nonproliferation expert David Albright.Albright, whose Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security looks for signs of proliferation, said a new configuration for the cascades set up in tandem at Fordo means they tend to "overshoot 20%" at start up.Sanctions"Nonetheless, embarrassing for Iran," he wrote in an e-mail to the AP.Calls to Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, were rejected and the switchboard operator at the Iranian mission said he was not available. IAEA media officials said the agency had no comment.Iran is under several rounds of UN sanctions for its failure to disclose information on its controversial nuclear programme. Tehran says it is enriching uranium to provide more nuclear energy for its growing population, while the US and other nations fear that Iran doing that to have the ability to make nuclear weapons.The latest attempts to persuade Iran to compromise and let UN experts view its nuclear programme ended inconclusively on Wednesday at a meeting in Baghdad. At the talks, six nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - failed to gain traction in efforts to persuade Tehran to freeze its 20% enrichment. Envoys said the group will meet again next month in Moscow.Iran started enriching to 20% last year, mostly at Fordo, saying it needed the material to fuel a research reactor and for medical purposes. HopeStill, its long-standing refusal to stop enrichment and accept reactor fuel from abroad has sparked fears it wants to expand its domestic programme to be able to turn it toward making weapons.Those concerns have increased since it started higher enrichment at Fordo, which is carved into a mountain. That, say Iranian officials, makes it impervious to attack from Israel or the United States, which have not ruled out using force as a last option if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.Even though Wednesday's talks were unproductive, diplomats saw hope in the promise of another meeting."It is clear that we both want to make progress and that there is some common ground," European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is formally leading the talks, told reporters. "However, significant differences remain. Nonetheless, we do agree on the need for further discussion to expand that common ground."Significant differencesSaeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, offered a lukewarm assessment of Wednesday's negotiations, in light of European and American refusal to lift tough sanctions against Iran as Tehran had hoped."The result of the talks was that we were able to get more familiar with the views of each other," Jalili told reporters.In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said significant differences remain between the two sides and that it's now up to Iran "to close the gaps"."Iran now has the choice to make: Will it meet its international obligations and give the world confidence about its intentions or not?" Clinton said.Iran went into Wednesday's talks urging the West to scale back on recently toughened sanctions, which have targeted Iran's critical oil exports and have effectively blackballed the country from international banking networks. The 27-nation European Union is set to ban all Iranian fuel imports on 1 July, shutting the door on about 18% of Iran's market.Experiments The diplomats said a confidential IAEA report on Iran's nuclear programme to be released later on Friday to the agency's 35-nation board will mention of the traces of 27% enrichment found at Fordo.Iran already has around 700 centrifuges churning out 20% enriched uranium at Fordo. The diplomats said the report will also note that - while Iran has set up around 350 more centrifuges since late last year, at the site - these machines are not enriching.While the reason for that could be purely technical, it could also serve as a signal from Tehran that it is waiting for progress in the negotiations.The report is also expected to detail the state of talks between the UN nuclear agency and Iran that the agency hopes will re-launch a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has worked on nuclear-weapons related experiments - charges that Tehran denies.

Next stop Moscow for Iran nuclear talks

Iran and six world powers achieved little in two days of intense nuclear talks in Baghdad except arranging another meeting in Moscow next month and establishing they are poles apart on crucial issues.The latest diplomatic push between Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - at one stage even looked unlikely to take place until desperate eleventh-hour efforts managed to salvage the process - for now."We remain determined to resolve this problem in the near term through negotiations, and will continue to make every effort to that end," Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said after two "very intense" days of talks."What we have now is some common ground and a meeting in place where we can take that further forward," she said, announcing the next round would take place in Moscow on 18-19 June.She added however that there remained "significant differences" and that Iran must take "concrete and practical steps to urgently meet the concerns of the international community".The main bone of contention was - and will remain in Moscow - the speed at which the P5+1 eases sanctions in return for the Islamic republic scaling back the most sensitive parts of its nuclear programme.SweetenersAshton put forward in the Iraqi capital on behalf of the six powers a new package of proposals that clearly went down badly with the Iranians.The P5+1 want Iran to restrict to purities of 20% the enrichment of uranium, the area of Iran's activities that most raises their suspicions that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear arsenal.In return reports indicated the international powers are prepared to offer a variety of sweeteners, including fuel plates for a reactor producing medical isotopes, relaxing restrictions on aircraft parts and nuclear safety assistance.But this falls short of the lifting of the whole raft of UN Security Council and unilateral Western sanctions that have been hit Iran's economy for years.Reflecting official thinking in Tehran, state media ran reports slammed the package, with the IRNA news agency calling it as "outdated, not comprehensive, and unbalanced".Iran meanwhile is loath to give up what its chief negotiator in Baghdad, Saeed Jalili called its "absolute right" to uranium enrichment.Oil embargo
In the end, with the Baghdad talks extended several times - they were originally only meant to last one day - the two sides agreed to differ, setting the stage for what may be a make-or-break gathering in the Russian capital.Neither side can afford to keep the process going indefinitely without some tangible progress.Iran is threatened with an EU oil embargo, due to take full effect from 1 July, that will also bar EU firms from insuring crude tankers heading to countries such as India, South Korea and Japan, all major buyers of Iran's oil.Israel, which is widely considered to have the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, sees itself as Tehran's number-one target if Iran acquires the bomb and is highly sceptical that diplomacy will work.Like the United States, it has refused to rule out military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it developing a weapons capability.Oil prices have risen higher as a result, hurting global growth just as the eurozone crisis threatens to return with a vengeance and as US President Barack Obama seeks re-election in November on the back of an improving economy.Military optionObama, who campaigned in 2008 for his first term promising to reach out to Tehran, is also wary of his Iran policy being branded as soft and a failure by his Republican challenger Mitt Romney."A freeze on new sanctions in exchange for a freeze on new enrichment activity is still possible," Mark Fitzpatrick at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank in London said."The danger is that if they drag on too long, diplomacy will be seen to have failed by many in Israel and elsewhere, which will bring renewed talk of a military option."

NEWS,22.05.2012.

Deal on probe reached with Iran: UN

Despite some remaining differences, a deal has been reached with Iran that will allow the UN nuclear agency to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has secretly worked on developing nuclear arms, the UN nuclear chief said on Tuesday.

 

The news from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano, who returned from Tehran on Tuesday, comes just a day before Iran and six world powers meet in Baghdad for negotiations and could present a significant turning point in the heated dispute over Iran's nuclear intentions. The six nations hope the talks will result in an agreement by the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium to a higher level that could be turned quickly into the fissile core of nuclear arms.Iran denies it seeks nuclear arms and says its reactors are only for power and medical applications.By compromising on the IAEA probe, Iranian negotiators in Baghdad could argue that the onus was now on the other side to show some flexibility and temper its demands. Although Amano's trip and the talks in Baghdad are formally separate, Iran hopes progress with the IAEA can boost its chances on Wednesday in pressing the US and Europe to roll back sanctions that have hit Iran's critical oil exports and blacklisted the country from international banking networks.Differences no obstacleIt was unclear, though, how far the results achieved by Amano would serve that purpose, with him returning without the two sides signing the deal, despite his upbeat comments.After talks in Tehran between Amano and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, "the decision was made... to reach agreement" on the mechanics of giving the IAEA access to sites, scientists and documents it seeks to restart its probe", Amano told reporters at Vienna airport after his one-day trip to Tehran.Amano said differences existed on "some details", without elaborating but added that Jalili had assured him that these "will not be an obstacle to reach agreement". He spoke of "an almost clean text" that will be signed soon, although he could not say when.Western diplomats are sceptical of Iran's willingness to open past and present activities to full perusal, believing it would only reveal what they suspect and Tehran denies - that the Islamic Republic has researched and developed components of a nuclear weapons programme. They say that Tehran's readiness to honour any agreement it has signed is the true test of its willingness to co-operateThe United States is among those sceptics. In a statement released soon after Amano's announcement, Robert A Wood, America's chief delegate to the nuclear agency, said Washington appreciated Amano's efforts but remained "concerned by the urgent obligation for Iran to take concrete steps to co-operate fully with the verification efforts of the IAEA, based on IAEA verification practices".Good intentions"We urge Iran to take this opportunity to resolve all outstanding concerns about the nature of its nuclear programme," said the statement. "Full and transparent co-operation with the IAEA is the first logical step."German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also urged Iran to put professed good intentions into action."Enduring and substantial co-operation by Iran with the International Atomic Energy Agency to clear up the open questions surrounding the Iranian nuclear programme would be an important and at the same time overdue step in the right direction," he said in a statement.
On the Baghdad talks, "the aim is to make progress not just atmospherically but also on substance," he said, reflecting Western views that the feel-good effect achieved at a previous round in Istanbul last month must now be built upon with concrete steps aimed at reducing international concerns over Tehran's nuclear agenda.For the six powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - a main concern is Iran's production of uranium enriched to 20%, which is far higher than needed for regular energy-producing reactors but used for one Iran says it needs for medical research.The US and its allies fear the higher-enriched uranium could be quickly boosted to warhead-grade material.Israel against concessionsUS officials have said Washington will not backpedal from its stance that Iran must fully halt uranium enrichment. But speculation is increasing that the priorities have shifted to block the 20% enrichment and perhaps allow Iran to maintain lower-level nuclear fuel production - at least for now.Iranian officials could package such a scenario as a victory for their domestic audience. In Israel, it would likely be greeted with dismay and widen rifts between President Barack Obama's US administration and Israeli officials who keep open the threat of military action against Iran's nuclear sites.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned against concessions, saying world powers should make "clear and unequivocal demands" that Iran stop all of its nuclear enrichment activity.
"Iran wants to destroy Israel and it is developing nuclear weapons to fulfil that goal," Netanyahu said at a conference in Jerusalem. "Against this malicious intention, leading world powers need to display determination and not weakness. They should not make any concessions to Iran."Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator who met with Amano and will also be the lead envoy at the Baghdad talks, said his country hopes for a new beginning when the talks start on Wednesday."We hope that the talks in Baghdad will be a kind of dialogue that will give shape to ... co-operation," Jalili said after arriving in Baghdad late on Monday.More inspections As part of any agreement, Amano and his agency are focused on getting Iran to let agency experts to probe various high-profile Iranian sites, including the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran, where the agency believes Iran in 2003 ran explosive tests needed to set off a nuclear charge. The suspected blasts took place inside a pressure chamber.
Iran has never said whether the chamber existed, but describes Parchin as a conventional military site. Iran, however, has blocked IAEA requests for access to sites, scientists and documents needed for its investigation for more than four years.Amano's talks included Jalili as well as Iran's foreign minister and other officials including the head of Iran's nuclear agency, Fereidoun Abbasi.Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahtpisheh saids on Monday that Tehran will likely accept more inspections of Parchin "if it feels there is good will within the [IAEA]".But Falahtpisheh warned that this new openness will likely come with expectations that the West would in return ease international sanctions on Iran.Flexibility"In opening up to more inspections, Iran aims at lowering the crisis over its nuclear case," he said. "But if the sanctions continue, Iran would stop this."A political analyst in Tehran, Hamid Reza Shokouhi, said Iran is carefully watching to see if the West shows more "flexibility and pays attention to Iranian demands" during Amano's trip."Then Iran will show flexibility, too," Shokouhi said.
But some Iranian media was critical of Amano and the IAEA, possibly reflecting internal divisions on how far to go compromise on nuclear issues.In a sign of ebbing market worries, oil prices have steadily fallen since Iran and world powers resumed talks in April in Istanbul. Fears of supply disruptions because of military conflict or Iranian shipping blockades helped drive prices above $106 a barrel earlier this year. Oil rose to slightly above $92 per barrel on Monday in New York.