WASHINGTON - March 9 -

SELIG HARRISON, via Haeyoung Kim, asiaintern@ciponline.org, http://www.ciponline.org/asia/articles/011806harrison.htm
Available for a limited number of interviews, Harrison is director of the Asia program at the Center for International Policy and author of five books on nonproliferation and Asian affairs. He wrote recently: "The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the European Union were based on a bargain that the European Union, held back by the U.S., has failed to honor. Iran agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment efforts temporarily pending the outcome of discussions on a permanent enrichment ban. The EU promised to put forward proposals for economic incentives and security guarantees in return for a permanent ban but subsequently refused to discuss security issues." Harrison is also closely following the recent U.S.-India nuclear deal.

JAMES PAUL, james.paul@globalpolicy.org, http://www.globalpolicy.org
Paul is executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors the United Nations. He is closely following developments regarding Iran at the UN.

ALICE SLATER, aslater@gracelinks.org, http://gracelinks.org/nuke
President of the GRACE Policy Institute, which works on nuclear issues, Slater said today: "The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty explicitly obliges signatories like the U.S., U.K., Russia, China and France who have nuclear weapons 'to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.' The nuclear powers are out of compliance with this, and the U.S. is pursuing a nuclear deal with India which undermines the NPT. So why should we expect Iran to follow the treaty?"

MICHAEL SPIES, michael@lcnp.org, http://www.lcnp.org
Spies is program associate with the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy. The group has recently released several documents assessing the situation with Iran. Spies noted today: "Two issues underlie this standoff, which must be kept separate. The first issue relates to the International Atomic Energy Agency fulfilling its statutory obligation to verify the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. The second issue is Iran's pursuit of nuclear fuel cycle capabilities, which has been the focus of U.S. and EU efforts. The Security Council should consider whether and how it can practically facilitate the IAEA's task of verifying the peaceful use of nuclear energy."

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