The media are full of reports about how Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatullah Khamenei has 'rejected talks' with the US, trying to portray Iran as the unreasonably intransigent party in this standoff. But if you check the events just prior to this bit of news, you get a better sense of what actually happened:
JAN 31st 2013: Iran informs IAEA of plans to add 3,000 faster centrifuges to its main uranium enrichment facility
Feb 2: VP Joe Biden: “We have made it clear at the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership”
Feb 3: Iranian FM Salehi: “No red lines for talks”, “But we have to make sure … that the other side comes with authentic intentions with a fair and real intention to resolve the issue.”
Feb 6: Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen announces new sanctions on Iran to take effect.
Feb 7th: Iranian Supreme Leader: “You (US) should know that pressure and negotiations are not compatible and our nation will not be intimidated by these actions”
(Chronology by BibiJon)
You missed an important piece of information. Biden said talks with increasing pressure. This is means that the purpose of the talks is simply to show the world that Obama was able "to bring Iran to the negotiating table."
What you are not mentioning is that the Obama strategy is not to solve this problem, rather to show global markets that the US remains in firm control of the ME and that Obama is EVEN managing Iran and has it cornered.
The fear is that those trillions in offshore accounts will fly to another nation or nations if Obama is unable to assure them that the US remain THE place to invest.
Posted by: PB | February 09, 2013 at 09:03 PM