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Quest for More Leverage Drives Iran's Nuclear Stalling Tactic
(Reuters) Parisa Hafezi - Western powers have been trying for weeks to get Tehran to agree to return to nuclear talks that have been on hold since June. Behind Tehran's stalling is an attempt to gain leverage to extract more concessions when negotiations do eventually resume, officials and analysts said. "Iran will eventually return to the talks in Vienna. But we are in no rush to do so because time is on our side. Our nuclear [program] advances further every day," a senior Iranian official said. Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, said, "More time equals more leverage, given the exponential growth of Iran's nuclear program." A senior European diplomat said, "They want to create a fait accompli on the ground - technical and nuclear - and preserve the possibility of a negotiation." Iran's rulers are confident their stalling strategy will not bring serious repercussions, analysts said. "Ayatollah Khamenei seems to believe that by waiting, he can get a better deal from Washington - that time is on his side," said Meir Javedanfar, Iran lecturer at Israel's Reichman University.