Six world powers and Iran started their first negotiations in six months on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet calling on the P5+1 to maintain sanctions against Tehran until it dismantles its nuclear program.
The six nations – the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – will pressure Iran over the two-day meeting in Geneva to agree to scale back its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.
A European Union spokesman said that Iran put forward proposals regarding the dispute over its nuclear program as talks got underway.
Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said Iran presented the ideas in power point format but gave no details. Mann said there was a sense of "cautious optimism" ahead of the two-day meeting and that Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Tehran\’s chief negotiator, dined together on Monday evening in a "very positive atmosphere".
The talks were continuing but Iran "certainly made some proposals this morning," Mann said, adding the powers were looking for concrete, constructive ideas from the Iranian side. Iranian media said the package was entitled "Closing an unnecessary crisis, opening new horizons" but did not elaborate.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi agreed that the atmosphere was "positive," saying that the world powers had a "good" first reaction to Tehran\’s proposals. He added that the details ofthe proposal would be discussed on Tuesday afternoon.
During years of on-and-off diplomacy Iran has refused to cooperate on its nuclear program, rejecting western suspicions that it seeks to achieve the ability to make weapons. But the election of moderate President Hassan Rouhani in June has raised hopes in the West that a deal could be possible, in part because of the crippling effect of sanctions on the Iranian economy.
Netanyahu urged the six world powers meeting in Geneva Tuesday morning to seize the diplomatic opportunity to halt Iran\’s nuclear weapons program by maintaining economic sanctions against Tehran until it dismantles its program.
"Now is an opportune moment to reach a genuine diplomatic solution that peacefully ends Iran\’s military nuclear program," Netanyahu said at the start of a Jerusalem meeting with Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
This opportunity can only be realized if the international community continues to place pressure on Iran. Because it is that pressure that has brought Iran back to the negotiations in the first place. And it is that pressure which makes the peaceful dismantling of Iran\’s military nuclear program possible," Netanyahu said.
"These negotiations are beginning at a time when Iran is under intense pressure because of the effect of the economic sanctions. Iran is desperately trying to get these sanctions removed," he said.
Netanyahu repeated the warning he made in the Knesset plenum on Monday and added, "I think it would be a historic mistake to ease the sanctions when they are so close to achieving their goals."
Ridding Iran of its nuclear weapons program is in the interest of Israel, the Middle East and the US, Netanyahu said.
"We want a peaceful world and that does not include an Iran that retains nuclear weapons capability," Netanyahu said.
The security cabinet issued a similar statement earlier in the morning. Just prior to the start of talks in Geneva, the cabinet, whose deliberations are usually secret, urged world powers to demand a full rollback of Tehran\’s atomic program and not to ease economic sanctions prematurely.
The announcement said the cabinet had "adopted unanimously" Netanyahu\’s long standing call that Iranian uranium enrichment and plutonium facilities be shut down and all fissile material be shipped abroad.
Any Israeli attack on Iran would need security cabinet approval, and the unanimous vote was a key show of support by top ministers for Netanyahu.
"It would be an historic mistake not to take full advantage of the sanctions, by making concessions before ensuring the dismantling of Iran\’s nuclear weapons program," said the Israeli statement, which was issued first in English for foreign consumption. A Hebrew version came out an hour and a half later.