Iranian Opposition Worries Over U.S. Offer

Middle East Newsline:

The Iranian opposition has expressed concern over a U.S. offer that would enable Iran to continue uranium enrichment. Iranian opposition figures said the U.S. offer would be seen by the Iranian mullah leadership as a capitulation to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The opposition said this could reinforce Teheran's policy of brinkmanship toward the West.

"Mr. Ahmadinejad's harsh and venomous rhetoric brought the toughest U.S. president in the life of the Islamic republic to the [negotiations] table," said Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran and a leader in the pro-democracy opposition. "The lesson is that harshness and radical talk pays."

On June 7, Pahlavi met 39 French parliamentarians in Paris in a discussion of Teheran's nuclear threat. Later, he held a news conference in which he warned that Teheran has misunderstood the U.S. nuclear offer.