Iran's New Nuclear Diplomacy

Global diplomacy surrounding Iran's nuclear standoff is very likely to reach a critical fork in the road this fall. In the coming weeks and months, this potentially dangerous crisis could either escalate or veer toward hopeful signs of a mutually satisfactory resolution. Ahead of the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg as well as the U.N.'s annual gathering later this month, the momentum for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions is slowly but surely gaining, in light of Iran's rejection of the U.N. Security Council's demands to halt its nuclear fuel cycle.

However, those who argue that Iran will not make a serious effort to work with the international community to resolve the crisis are mistaken. Tehran has, to the contrary, adopted a coherent negotiating strategy in the hopes of forestalling sanctions and, worse, military action. The components of this strategy are:

- Increasing transparency: As the recently issued IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program indicates, Iran has enhanced its cooperation with the IAEA by agreeing to the agency's requests for "improvements" in its surveillance of the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz and inspection of the heavy-water reactor under construction in Arak. Both moves reinforce the IAEA's ability, which it has repeatedly confirmed, to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear materials.

- Floating a new negotiating "package": After months of internal deliberation, Iran has finalized a new "package of proposals" and has invited the representatives of the "P5 +1" nations (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany) to Tehran to receive it -- evidence, according to Saeed Jalili, Iran's point man in the nuclear talks, that "Iran is prepared to cooperate in tackling anxieties in the international arena."