EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini has expressed the hope that a final nuclear agreement with Iran would clear the way for Tehran to play a “major but positive role” in the conflicts in the Middle East, particularly in Syria.
She made the remark on Tuesday in New York as she met Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the sidelines of a nuclear disarmament conference.
Arguing that it would be "naive" to ignore Iran, Mogherini said the best approach would be to "call on Iran to play a major, a major, but positive role in the region."
“I’m also convinced this could lead the way, open the way to a different role of Iran in the region,” Mogherini told journalists, adding that she hoped that an agreement with Iran on the nuclear issue could usher in security and stability to the region.
“The best possible approach you can have is for sure to have on one side a positive outcome of talks so they cannot develop a nuclear weapon and on other side to call for Iran to play a major, a major but positive role in Syria in particular,” she said.
According to observers, Mogherini’s remarks signaled a separture from the world powers’previous stance that the talks with Iran on its nuclear program have been separate from any peace talks on Syria.
On the contrary, a senior US official said Iran’s regional role could hamper the nuclear talks. US Under Secretary Wendy Sherman, one of the US chief nuclear negotiators, cautioned that a long-term deal with Iran remains in the balance and that Tehran’s destabilising regional role could hinder its progress.
Sherman cautioned potential investors in Iran that they should not yet increase their trade ties.
She expressed particular concern over Iran’s regional influence, saying, “We are still quite concerned about state-sponsored terrorism, we are quite concerned about human rights, we are quite concerned by what is happening in Yemen, what’s happening in Syria, other parts of the world, Lebanon.”
Sherman also said that ‘’it will take some time before sanctions against Iran will be lifted, even after an agreement, for all the implementation to be worked out.” This appears to contradict Iran’s position with his Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif saying this week that the entire process to end sanctions should take “only a few weeks” following a deal.
Iran has been expanding control in the region via terrorist proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shi''ite Houthi militia in Yemen, Shi''ite militias in Iraq and its own troops as well as Hezbollah in Syria where it supports the regime of Bashir al- Assad.
On Syria in particular, Iran can "encourage the regime to participate in a Syrian-led transition," Mogherini said.
Iran has been spending $35 billion a year to prop up President Bashar al-Assad''s regime, with experts revealing it does so to maintain a route by which to deliver weapons to its Hezbollah terror proxy in Lebanon and expand its regional hegemony.
Iran and P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) plus Germany agreed a framework to a comprehensive deal a few weeks ago, paving the way for negotiations to begin over the details of a potential accord, which must be agreed by June 30.
However, both sides have since emphasised differing aspects of the nascent deal, indicating that a final agreement remains far off.
Iran has already made clear it doesn''t intend to let inspectors access its secret nuclear facilities and that it will use advanced centrifuges after a deal is signed which would allow it to race to obtaining a nuclear weapon. It also will be able to continue its research on rockets needed to deliver a nuclear strike.