Iran Sending Envoys to Make Its Case

The elaborately stuccoed grand hall of the Palais Eschenbach often plays host to nobility and businessmen, concerts and Christmas parties, but last week it was the unlikely forum for a key Iranian official, who came to make the case for Tehran’s right to nuclear technology.

At the evening talk, frequently interrupted by applause, Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator asserted that his country’s intentions were purely peaceful.

“Today, the power of Iran in the region has put us in the position to help with the security and the stability of the region. If we go after nuclear weapons, this would lead other countries in the region also to go after nuclear weapons,” said Javad Vaeidi, who also is a member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“That would be neither in the interest of Iran, nor in the interest of the countries of the region.”

Vaeidi’s visit was one of dozens around the globe in recent weeks by Iranian officials. High-ranking officials have touched down in Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, China, Spain and Italy.

In Cairo, one such visit was the highest-level official contact between Egypt and Iran in more than two decades, Middle Eastern diplomats said. There were quiet discussions with Turkey and Saudi Arabia and highly visible ones in Malaysia, which played host to a meeting of the 116 member governments that make up the nonaligned movement.

The travels are part of an extensive international lobbying campaign to build support for Iran’s position in talks over the future of its nuclear program. Western countries believe Iran seeks the capability to make a nuclear bomb, whereas Tehran says it wants nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only.

The United States and the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, joined by Germany, have made Iran an offer under which it would receive economic and technological benefits in return for halting sensitive nuclear work. A key aspect of the offer is that the United States would join in face-to-face negotiations -- the first in 27 years with Iran.

Iranian leaders have given themselves until the end of August to formally respond to the offer. It is already clear, however, that Iran will fight hard to retain the right to at least some nuclear-related activities rather than agree to completely end its research and development of nuclear technology.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, signaled Tuesday that Tehran was cool to the deal in its current form.

“Negotiations with the United States are of no use to us.... We will not negotiate with anyone over the undeniable right of nuclear technology and using it,” he said.

Khamenei, however, did not close the door to a deal, adding, “If they recognize this right, we are ready to negotiate over supervision controls.”

The Iranian diplomacy has had some successes. In Malaysia, Iran persuaded the conference of nonaligned nations to make a strong statement in support of Tehran’s right to pursue the nuclear fuel cycle.

Since then, Iranian diplomats “have been making the rounds,” said a U.S. diplomat who has closely followed the negotiations with Iran. “It appears to be a very labor intensive, diplomatic offensive.” The diplomat, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

A European diplomat who works on the Iran issue agreed that the statement from the nonaligned nations was “very bad” for the position held by the U.S. and the European Union.

In order to make Tehran’s case as strong as possible, Iranian officials are seeking broad international support, especially from outside the West, said diplomats and experts.

Ali Ansari, an Iranian who teaches at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, described the case Iran was making as stronger than the one being made by the Americans and the European Union.

“The way the West has framed the nuclear debate is pretty unjust.

“From the Third World perspective, it looks like the big powers being unjust to the little powers, saying, ‘We can have it, but you can’t,’ ” he said.

The diplomacy is also an attempt to show that Iran has many friends despite Western powers’ efforts to rally international support against Tehran.

“The Iranians are anxious to show they are not isolated,” Ansari said.

Vaeidi’s visit to Austria underscored that. Although they are often believed to share the U.S. wariness of Iran’s intentions, European countries diverge considerably in their views of Iran.

Austria, for instance, identifies itself as a neutral country and has long reached out to the Middle East; OPEC has its headquarters in Vienna, and the conservative Freedom Party, which played host to Vaeidi, has had a warm relationship with Middle East powers. And Austrian support for American policy is among the lowest in the European Union.

For different reasons, Italy and Spain are open to listening to Iran. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited Italy this month and traveled to Spain a few days later.

Italian officials have made no secret they are irritated about being left out of negotiations involving the United States, the European Union and Russia regarding Iran. Britain, France and Germany have been the three European Union countries at the table.

Italy wants to either be part of the negotiations or have the talks take place in a forum to which it has access.

“The Iranians go there and say the EU is not the right forum to discuss this,” said a European diplomat from one of the countries involved in the negotiations. “And the Italians agree with them.”

In the Middle East, Iranian officials are trying to use the nuclear talks as a vehicle for asserting themselves as the preeminent regional power.

“Iran realizes that a threshold has been crossed -- the U.S. is willing to come to the table, so it is going around to countries like Egypt and saying, ‘Look we brought the U.S. to the table,’ ” said a senior Middle Eastern diplomat. “Now, of course, other countries in the region have relations with the U.S. too, but Iran is trying to assert itself in a special way.”

Most other countries in the region are largely Sunni Muslim, and their leaders are uncomfortable with the untrammeled growth of Iran, whose population is heavily Shiite Muslim. But they also like the idea of Iran standing up to the United States.

After recent discussions in Egypt with the Arab League and the Egyptian foreign minister, Iran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, urged all Muslim countries to pursue nuclear technology, but his message was primarily directed to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the other two Arab regional powerhouses.

“The nuclear issue affects the future of all Muslim countries,” Larijani said. Speaking to reporters, he called on Muslim countries to “choose the path” of nuclear development.

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Times special correspondents Julia Damianova in Vienna and Kasra Naji in Tehran contributed to this report.