Word: nuclearization
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...IRGC's rise presents both threats and opportunities. The sepah is responsible for the very things that most concern Washington: Iran's drive for nuclear weapons and its support of terrorism. Guardsmen hold several key positions in the Supreme National Security Council, through which they are thought to control the levers of Iran's nuclear and missile programs. And an IRGC unit known as the Quds Force provides training and weapons to Hizballah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories and the Mahdi Army in Iraq. But some analysts think that growing commercial interests may have taken the edge...
...Obama Administration had sought talks with Iran since taking office in January but had been rebuffed until now. Under growing pressure from Capitol Hill and allies in Europe and Israel to show results for his engagement strategy, Obama had warned Iran that failure to discuss international concerns over its nuclear program would be met with an escalation of sanctions. U.S. and European diplomats had taken great care to lower expectations for the Geneva meeting - the metric of success, they stressed, would be the tone of the meeting and Tehran's willingness to engage on the issues of most concern...
...forum in 2008, this time he held what U.S. officials called a "significant conversation" directly with his Iranian counterpart, Jalili, on the sidelines - the highest level of direct conversation between the U.S. and Iran in decades. State Department spokesman Robert Wood described it as a "frank exchange" on the nuclear issue and other questions, including human rights, but stressed that its contents were confidential...
Iran appears to have demonstrated sufficient flexibility to allow for a new negotiating process to get under way, although that process could be circuitous and frustrating. Iran had consistently warned before the talks that it was not willing to negotiate over its nuclear "rights," that is, the development of the full nuclear fuel cycle for energy purposes. The U.S. and its European allies have sought to persuade Iran to renounce the right to enrich uranium, because that capacity could be converted to create weapons materiel. And Washington has demanded that Iran abide by U.N. Security Council resolutions ordering...
...officials went to Geneva to judge Iran's willingness to address international concerns about its nuclear program, having indicated that they're going to give the process until the end of the year before judging its effectiveness at resolving those concerns. Notes of caution and caveats will abound, but the takeaway from Thursday's meeting will be: So far, so good...