Former generals and diplomats urge Obama to put sanctions on table in Iran talks

Guardian, 19 Dec 2012 – A group of 24 experts on nuclear weapons and Iran, including former generals, diplomats and officials, have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to press ahead with the next round of diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear programme and to improve the international offer on the table.
The group includes General Joseph Hoar, a former US Central Command chief, and Lt General Robert Gard, a former president of the National Defence University, as well as many former diplomats from the US and European with experience of the issue.
Following reports that the administration does not intend to improve the current international offer to Iran significantly in return for a halt to production of ‘medium-enriched’ 20% uranium, the letter advocates a bolder strategy, involving a short-term offer of sanctions relief. Here is the meat of the letter:
Overall goals for U.S. and P5+1 negotiators should include: halting Iran’s accumulation of 20 percent enriched uranium; restricting—not permanently suspending–Iran’s enrichment to normal reactor-grade levels; limiting its stockpiles to actual nuclear power and other civilian, peaceful needs; and securing more extensive and effective IAEA inspections including through Iranian adherence to the Additional Protocol to the NPT and other inspection needs of the IAEA. Iran should account for previous weapons-related experiments to ensure that they have been halted. In exchange, there should be an appropriate and proportional paring back of international sanctions on Iran.
As a first step, we urge you and your team to pursue a revised proposal calling for a verifiable halt to Iran’s accumulation of 20 percent-enriched uranium including export of the material or conversion to metallic form in Iran in exchange for a reciprocal relaxing some of international and financial sanctions imposed on Iran. This would build confidence and momentum for a long-term framework agreement covering nuclear cooperation and security issues as well as a fully transparent future for Iran’s civil nuclear program in full and verified accordance with the NPT.
There is still no date for the next round of talks between the six-nation negotiating group and Iran, but the most likely scenario is that they will resume in mid-January which may give the Obama administration and its expected nominee for Secretary of State, John Kerry, time to review the US position.
In Europe, meanwhile, there is a growing conviction that the six-nation process is not a viable vehicle for delivering a deal. It is too cumbersome and public, officials say, and most importantly, does not provide a direct means of communication between the two power centres that matter: the White House and the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader.