Azerbaijan, Baku, July 3 /Trend News, T.Jafarov /
Along with the question of preference to diplomatic negotiations with Iran, the summit of G8 countries will discuss taking strict measures against the country, if official Tehran refuses to fulfill obligations in the future.
"During the G8 summit, a chance will be given to Iran to negotiate, but at the same time, will be discussed further steps against Iran if the country does not solve internal problems and will not meet future commitments, and if refuse to make cooperation," Iranian expert, Professor at University of Glasgow, Rza Tagizadeh, who works in London, told Trend News.
Summit of heads of G8 states will be held on July 8-10 in L'Aquila city in Italy. The summit will discuss various issues, including global financial crisis and various regional crises, food security, methods of combating climate change, as well as the situation in Iran, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Africa and Latin America.
"At the summit, the key topic of discussions will be the Iranian issue," Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi said to press conference last week. According to Berlusconi, discussions will be held on imposing sanctions against Iran.
According to Tagizadeh, at a time when the United States intends to pursue a new policy with regards to Iran, it is unlikely that the G8 countries use sanctions against Tehran. "Currently, G8 supports holding diplomatic negotiations with Iran, but at the same time, will be observing the events in Iran," said Tagizadeh.
"The heads of G8 must show that they are close to the people who every day face arrest, and try to do everything possible to ensure that the Iranian people remains on the focus of G8," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday during a speech in Parliament. According to Merkel, the events occurring in Iran should not overshadow the problem of the nuclear program of the country. She also supported the policy of U.S. President Barack Obama to conduct direct negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.
Head of Iran National Interests Protection Organization Saeed Yari said that the Western countries will use the situation in Iran after the presidential elections as a pretext for obtaining a series of concessions from Iran. "The recent events in Iran served as a pretext for the Western countries to obtain concessions from Iran. At the summit, G8 countries will take a tough position on Iran with regards to human rights and lack of democracy," Yari said by telephone on July 3.
During the presidential elections in Iran, the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gained 62.63 percent of votes. His main rival, Mir Hussein Mousavi gained 33.75 percent of votes. Prior to the announcement of official results of elections, Mousavi declared his victory, and later accused the government of falsifying the results of voting. The protests of people dissatisfied with the results of the elections caused clashes between police and opposition supporters. According to the chairman of Iran's police, General Ismail Ahmadi Mugaddam, as a result of recent events in Iran, 1,032 people were arrested, many of whom were freed. According to official figures, clashes killed 20 people, while unofficial figure is 150 people. Some Western countries have expressed concerns over the events in Iran.
According to Tagizadeh, along with the continuation of discussions related to Iran, the summit will focus on the question of withdrawal of ambassadors, as well as application of economic sanctions against Tehran.
"The withdrawal of ambassadors of European countries from Iran and application of strict sanctions will not take place because Iran has a great geopolitical and geostrategic importance. Taking such steps will create a new atmosphere in the international arena, and this may be against the interests of both Iran and the West, as well as the United States," said Yari.
The United States and the West imposed numerous sanctions against Iran in connection with country's nuclear program. The United States believes that Iran supports terrorism and is preparing weapons of mass destruction.
The first sanction against Iran was imposed in 1979. Since then, the sanctions have been extended by the United States. Despite that since 2003, official Tehran suspended the uranium enrichment program for three years, from 2006, it resumed its nuclear program. Accordingly, the UN Security Council adopted three sanctions and five resolutions on Iran in order to suspend nuclear program.
According to Yari, currently the G8 summit is used as psychological pressure on Iran, but the current atmosphere of international relations does not allow to take strict steps.
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