GENEVA, May 26 - The World Trade Organization announced Thursday that it would start talks to admit Iran as a member, a reward for Tehran's agreement to continue to freeze its nuclear activities.
The decision came after the United States, in a small but important conciliatory gesture, dropped its long-standing opposition to Iranian membership in the organization, which governs global trade.
"It is a long overdue decision but it is a positive decision," said Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, in a telephone interview. "We have a Persian proverb: 'A fish is always fresh, even if it is caught when you go fishing late in the day.' "
In Washington, the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said that the timing of the United States reversal on Iran's World Trade Organization membership talks was "not totally coincidental." He said the negotiations between the Europeans and the Iranians in Geneva on Wednesday demonstrated "that efforts to achieve a peaceful, diplomatic solution on the Iran nuclear issue do continue."
The United States, which accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, has vetoed its efforts to join the organization since it first applied in 1996. Even though politics is not supposed to play a role in issues relating to membership, the Clinton and Bush administrations used the World Trade Organization veto as one of a range of American economic penalties against Iran, an Islamic Republic.
Because the organization, which is based in Geneva and has 148 member countries, makes decisions by consensus, the United States alone was able to block Iran more than 20 times over the years.
In March, President Bush announced that he would reverse that policy and agreed to consider sales of commercial aircraft parts after European leaders warned him that their nuclear negotiations with Iran would fail unless the United States joined Europe in a common bargaining position.
An array of Iranian officials dismissed the American gestures as insignificant.
Under a preliminary accord with Iran in Paris last November, France, Germany and Britain promised economic, political and security benefits in exchange for Iran's "objective guarantees" that its nuclear program was totally peaceful.
The economic benefits included helping Iran gain membership in the World Trade Organization, the promotion of private investment and technical help or cooperation in automobiles, telecommunications, civil aviation, agriculture and other fields. Joining the World Trade Organization offers access to a club of nations that are trying to reduce tariffs on trade in goods and services. The organization also settles trade disputes among members, and offers technical aid to developing nations.
In Geneva on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the three European countries persuaded Iran to continue its freeze on nuclear activities, averting a diplomatic crisis that could have led to international penalties against Iran.
In exchange, the Europeans offered to present Iran with detailed step-by-step proposals by early August on how to move toward consensus on the shape of Iran's nuclear program.
A senior State Department official said that after the talks, the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by telephone that progress had been made and that the European side wanted the United States to carry through with its pledge on the World Trade Organization to build confidence with the Iranians. Senior State Department officials are often under instructions to speak to reporters on condition of anonymity when discussing the diplomatic process.
Before the meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, Iran threatened to restart uranium conversion activities at its site at Isfahan, citing its rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and complaining about a lack of progress in the talks.
The Europeans responded with a letter signed by the foreign ministers of the three countries and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, warning Iran that restarting work would violate the Paris agreement and force them to recommend Iran for censure.
The letter mentioned Europe's support for moving forward with Iranian membership of the World Trade Organization, saying, "This sort of progress will be jeopardized if Iran now moves away from the Paris agreement."
The decision made Thursday to start World Trade Organization talks does not mean that Iran will easily gain entry. Membership takes years and requires a broad range of economic and political changes. China took more than 15 years of negotiations before becoming a member in 2001.
But the move may make it easier for Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, to persuade Iran's leaders to await the Europeans' proposals on carrying out the Paris nuclear accord before deciding whether to restart nuclear activities.
It also means that Iran now has observer status and can sit in on all World Trade Organization meetings.
The Bush administration has made clear that it has no intention of offering Iran more incentives now. In testimony before Congress last week, R. Nicholas Burns, the new under secretary of state for political affairs, said, "There is no reason to believe that extra incentives offered by the United States at this point would make a difference."
Iran sees it differently. One of the highest items on its shopping list with the Europeans is access to advanced nuclear reactors.
But Europe is not permitted to sell Iran nuclear reactors without American approval, because they contain American technology that may not be transferred to Iran under United States penalties.
In a working-level meeting in Brussels on Tuesday between Iranian and European negotiators, Hossein Mousavian, an Iranian negotiator, asked the Europeans why they did not just ask "their big boss," the United States, to directly supply Iran with 10 nuclear reactors, an idea he has floated before, two participants in the meeting said.
"The United States," one European participant in the talks said, "has always been the ghost at the table."
Tom Wright contributed reporting for this article.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/international/middleeast/27iran.html?pagewanted=print 27may2005
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