2006年VOA标准英语-Experts: Iran Leadership in Deep Debate Over Nu

By Gary Thomas
Tehran
19 July 2006

Iran has not responded to a European offer of incentives¹ designed to induce it to give up any nuclear weapons ambitions. Iranian officials have said Iran will give its answer by the end of August, but the West has accused them of stalling.

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Condoleezza Rice   
  
After a July 11 deadline came and went without an answer from Iran on the European nuclear offer, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the matter is being sent to the U.N. Security Council because Iran has had plenty of time to come up with an answer.

"There is, indeed, a very good proposal on the table that could be a basis for negotiations²," she said. "There is also a path ahead to the Security Council on which we are now launched, given the outcome of the meeting in Paris, because the Iranians had not responded positively³ in a timely fashion."

 
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 
  
But some Western diplomats⁴ and Iranian analysts⁵ say what appears to the West to be stalling is actually a lack of consensus⁶ inside Iran. There are competing centers of power, although the final decisions always rest with Supreme⁷ Leader Ali Khamenei.

Political Science and International Relations Professor Hermidas Bavand, of Allameh University in Tehran, says there is no agreement yet on whether to accept or reject the European offer. That, he says, explains the seemingly contradictory⁸ statements coming from different Iranian officials.

"There is not a unified⁹ strategy. It does not have a kind of transparency. It is due to the fact of different centers of power," said Bavand. "So the policy of the government, particularly foreign policy, tends to be extremely ambiguous."

The West says Iran is embarked¹⁰ on a path to nuclear weapons. Iranian officials deny that, saying they only want peaceful nuclear energy.

The details of the package have not been revealed, but European officials say it includes incentives to get Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

The key question is whether Iran will suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition to further negotiations. It is a very delicate issue here.

The chairman of the Iran's Parliament Energy Committee, Kamal Daneshyar, has been deeply involved in the discussions.

One thing we are considering is whether to keep perhaps 80 percent of the uranium enrichment here, while the other 20 percent would be done by Russia and then sent back here, he says. Such joint¹¹ venture ideas are among the ideas being circulated, he adds.

Daneshyar says Iran very much wants to get the nuclear issue off the international agenda to the satisfaction of all concerned. But, he adds, we will never under any circumstances give up our right to peaceful nuclear energy.

Another Iranian source who is well-placed to know the thinking of Iran's most senior officials predicts that Iran will reject the offer in August because of deep internal opposition¹² to suspending uranium enrichment.

Ordinary Iranians strongly support the government's assertion of its right to nuclear energy. But Professor Bavand says the government's ambiguity¹³ worries them as well with the possibility looming¹⁴ of sanctions from the U.N. Security Council on an already troubled economy.

"So still they do not know precisely¹⁵ in what particular direction the [nuclear] question has been moved," he said. "So they hear different statements from different persons. They [officials] are not unified as far as statements are concerned. So they create a sort of ambiguity, along with a kind of uneasiness, among the Iranian people."

Officials and diplomats here say Iran thinks that it can survive U.N. sanctions because officials believe that the sanctions will not be strong enough. They reason that countries like China, a leading importer of Iranian oil, and Russia will not back sanctions that will hit Iran's energy sector¹⁶. The United States already has sanctions against trade with Iran.

1 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

4 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

9 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

10 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

11 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

12 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

14 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

15 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

16 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。