Iran's foreign minister, Mohamed Javad Zarif, will meet Thursday with US Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from the P5+1 (the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) group that is negotiating to contain Iran's nuclear programme, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said Monday at the UN. The meeting between Zarif and Kerry would be the highest level of meeting between Iran and the US since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After the US embassy in Tehran was occupied by young revolutionaries and US diplomats held hostage for 333 days, the two countries haven't had direct contact with each other at any senior level. Of course, Zarif and Kerry won't meet alone. But still, the presence of both of them at one table is very important and could be an introduction to further high-level meetings between the two countries. If Zarif's meeting with Kerry is preapproved by Iran's supreme leader — as signals indicate — Iran would appear ready to take a very big step and perhaps give up enriching uranium to a high grade: the demand made in the UN Security Council since years. Of course that prospect would not happen immediately, but the Kerry-Zarif meeting could be a step towards building trust that would allow it to happen eventually. Ashton, who heads the P5+1 group, said Monday at the UN that she was struck by the “energy and determination” of Zarif “to try and move forward in our talks”. She said it was “a first meeting in order to establish how can we work together”. She said that her team and Zarif's team would meet again in October. Iranian engagement has emerged as a focus of this year's UN General Assembly. With the opening of the 68th session of the General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, 24 September, speculation is rife that Rouhani and Barack Obama may even greet each other and make history. At Tehran International Airport, before departing for the US, Rouhani told reporters he would seek “a path for negotiations and moderation rather than the path of sanctions”. The other important matters for discussion by world leaders and senior diplomats are the crisis in Syria, presidential elections in Afghanistan, and promoting an independent state of Palestine. The Geneva II conference on Syria could finally be scheduled this week when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in New York along with Kerry. The elimination of chemical weapons in Syria and the US push for evoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter — which would authorise use of force to ensure compliance — in a UN Security Council resolution on the matter is one of the major disputes between the two countries, blocking the resolution at the Security Council. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told The New York Times Monday the conditions by which Iran can be included in the Geneva II process. Fabius said that Tehran would not be rewarded for any cooperation on Syria relative to its nuclear programme. Nonetheless, Bashar Al-Assad's fate has become tangled with the Iranian nuclear file. Iran has to let one of them go — either its nuclear ambitions or its alliance with Syria — if Rouhani's team is to reconstruct Tehran's relations with Western nations. The suggestion that Iran could attend the Geneva II peace talks hasn't been repeated by other Western nations, or the US. It is possible that the French foreign minister is testing the water with the Iranians. US officials have not publicly been as forward leaning on Iran's inclusion in the talks. Iran's attendance in Geneva would indirectly express their assent to an effort that would lead to a transitional government with full authority in Syria. Apparently, the Americans are waiting to see what happens Thursday, when Zarif meets the P5+1. The outcome of Thursday's meeting will do much to decide whether Rouhani — who told his people he is the master of door openers — can make progress towards Iran's ultimate goal: the lifting of the sanctions. The State Department is reacting cautiously, reflecting the Obama administration's position that Iran's leaders should be judged by their actions. Iran has refused to comply with UN Security Council requests that it suspend uranium enrichment and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog, to examine a restricted military site in Iran. Were Iran to comply, suspending enriching uranium and fully cooperating with the IAEA, they would appear welcome to Geneva. But is this a price Iran is willing to pay?
