Energized Iran Builds More Bridges

Asia Times

The spin could be given that at its latest meeting in London on Friday, the "Iran Six" - the five permanent members of the United Security Council and Germany - in grappling with the Iran nuclear problem, advanced in unison the demand for the cessation of uranium-enrichment activities by Tehran. But this would be an untruth. The reality is that the "Iran Six" process looks tired and repetitive. The reality is also that the "Iran Six" is "to try to lure Iran into nuke talks", as the Associated Press reported. The six's other members are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the proposal to offer Iran incentives to stop its enrichment program is designed to show Tehran "the benefits of cooperating with the international
community". But even as the proposal is yet to be conveyed to Tehran, the Iranian side dictated its contents. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Tehran on Saturday: "At recent meeting in Kuwait with Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he told me the Iran Six intends to send us a letter after the May 2 London meeting. I told him in response: 'You know very well which word is forbidden in Iran. Be careful in your proposals to avoid crossing the forbidden line'."

It is obvious Iran's hectic diplomatic activity has put the "Iran Six" on the defensive. Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West is fast losing momentum. As Moscow expert Igor Tomberg of the elite Institute of World Economy and International Relations put it, at the back of it all lies the realization that "Iran has added energy to the quiver of its military and political arrows. Its advance to the global gas market could disrupt the current balance of interests there."

Switzerland leads the way

If a marker is to be put down, the turning point came on March 17 when Iran and Switzerland signed a 25-year gas deal. According to the Swiss government, the deal between Elektrizitats-Gesselschaft Laufenburg and the National Iranian Gas Export Company is worth US$42 billion. It is the first of its kind in the recent past in which a European energy company has actually signed a firm contract with Iran. So far, the practice has been to sign non-binding memorandum of understandings (MoUs).

In terms of the agreement with Switzerland, Iran will deliver 5.5 billion cubic meters (bmc) of gas per year to Europe, starting from 2010 via a pipeline under construction. That the deal signified a watershed in the geopolitics of energy security was apparent from the presence of Mottaki and visiting Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey at the signing ceremony in Tehran. Indeed, Calmy-Rey acknowledged that Switzerland has a "strategic interest to secure our gas supplies and diversify our gas suppliers". She pointed out that the gas deal with Iran would reduce Europe's dependence on energy supplies from Russia. "We are decreasing our dependence, and the dependence of Europe, on Russian gas," she stressed in Mottaki's presence.

Washington is likely angry. The Financial Times of London reported Washington hinted at terminating the arrangement of the US Interest Sections being located in the Swiss embassies in Tehran and Havana. But Swiss officials maintained no international sanctions prevented foreign investment in the Iranian energy sector and that the March 17 gas deal, in fact, was intended to "alleviate" energy shortages in Italy. Looking ahead, the Financial Times added, "Following the deal, some European leaders have voiced concern about new investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG), the sector in which groups such as Total, Royal Dutch Shell and Austria's OMV have struck preliminary agreements but have yet to sign formal contracts. Iran has warned such companies they need to conclude deals by June or it will look elsewhere for investment."

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE06Ak01.html

for other EU nations to do the same.

Watch the dollar tumble and the Euro climb. Bush et. al. have ensured our obsolescence in the global community.