Can "Iranian nuclear program" draw on the experience of mechanism on "Korean nuclear issue"?

Two thorny "nuclear" weapons issues have been heading for their diametrically opposite directions since early February this year. The six-party talks made an important breakthrough as the fifth round of talks that had ended with a joint document on February 13. So it started the process of non-nuclearizing the Korean Peninsula with initiate steps taken to implement the 9.19 joint statement.

When the developments with the nuclear issue of the Korea Peninsula have taken a turn for the better, there is still a trend of escalated danger for the Iranian nuclear program. On February 22, IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei circulated his latest report to the upcoming meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on the implementation by Iran of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and Relevant Provisions. He said Iran is bent on expanding its nuclear enrichment program by installing hundreds of centrifuges, to the defiance of the UN Security Council resolution that demands that it freeze its nuclear enrichment program.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Iran to comply with the Security Council's demand that it stop uranium enrichment. "I am deeply concerned again that the Iranians did not meet the demand," he said.

Meanwhile, US aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis arrived at the Persian Gulf several days ago to join the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its accompanying strike force of cruiser, destroyer and attack submarines, which had been deployed on duty there. To date, the US forces have deployed two aircraft carrier fleets in the Gulf region.

On Feb. 24, US Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States was working with its allies to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear weapons but rejected to rule out the possibility of taking military action against Iran, saying that "all options are still on the table" over Tehran's nuclear program. Moreover, the US Department of Defense has reportedly set up an Iranian group to respond to the Iranian nuclear program, in a bid to guarantee the execution of possible tasks of striking within 24 hours in case of a given order from the president.

Instead of giving in to the least, Iran, however, is fully determined to fight to a finish. President Mohamoud Ahmadinejad pledged on Feb.25 that his country will continue with its nuclear program despite the mounting pressure from the West, according to Iranian media reports. Iran has no brake and no reverse in its nuclear program, which is very much like an unstoppable train, he said. Furthermore, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottake responded by saying that they did not see the U.S. was in a position to launch military strikes against Iran.

As a matter of fact, there is much difference between the DPRK nuclear issue and the Iranian nuclear program, both of which are very complex with deep-rooted contradictions. Nevertheless, things have begun to improve with the DPRK nuclear issue, and the door has opened for its peaceful settlement. With respect to a turn for the better on this issue, two factors merit mulling over. First, the role of multilateral-talk mechanism has been brought into full play, and the six-party talks mechanism serves as a crucial platform to lead the DPRK nuclear issue to a soft landing. Though there is a "5+1" mechanism (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely, the U.S. Britain, France, Russia and China) plus Germany on the Iranian nuclear program, it differs with the mechanism of the six-party talks, which directly involving DPRK, the country concerned. Therefore, how to get Iran involved directly into the talks and expand the mechanism to "6+1" should be an option that deserves careful and meticulous consideration.

Secondly, headway in the six-party talks is related very much to the direct contact between the US and DPRK, and the evidence has so far proven that the US-DPRK contact is crucial to the progress. Consequently, it is also vital to provide essential conditions and atmosphere to get the U.S. and Iran into the direct, face-to-face talks. Despite twist and turns on the road ahead for peaceful solution, the parties concerned are still willing to resolve their disputes through the mechanism of the six-party talks. So, at a time when both the U.S. and Iran are lifting up their voices to possibly rekindle flames of war in the Persian Gulf, people across the world are aspiring and looking forward to seeing them contact and make peace, so as to usher in the dawn of peace in the Middle-East region.

By People's Daily Online and its author Yuan Zongze, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies