Country Watch
On October 15, 2013, the first round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5 + 1 coun- tries, which include the five permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, China, Russia, United Kingdom, and France) plus Ger- many, took place in Geneva. The P5+1 countries seemed hopeful and called the talks useful even though the details of the talks were not made public for evaluation. During the meetings, Iran’s Foreign Minister also met individually with the European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief, Catherin Ashton. They both called the talks positive and hinted at roadmaps being presented by Iran. The P5+1 countries are set to meet again for another round of negotiations. However, Israel, and more specifically Prime Minister Netanyahu, has been skeptical about Iran’s nuclear program. Israel believes that Iran is close to building a nuclear weapon and its nuclear program should be free of centrifuges and heavy water plant reactors. Israel has repeatedly stated its concern over the transparency of Iran’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have been proposing and threatening the enactment of new set of monetary sanctions against Iran. If such bill does pass the U.S. House of Represen- tatives, it will be the strictest sanctions yet. The White House and the lead American negotiator, Wendy Sherman, have been trying to convince Congress to delay the sanctions in order to give the current ongoing diplomatic talks a chance. The White House believes that they should take advantage of the new and unusual window of opportunity that Iran created by the election of Rouhani as president.
* Submitted by Saiena Shafiezadeh
United Nations Investigates and Begins Dismantling Syrian Weapons Program
On September 16, 2013, the United Nations War Crimes Panel announced investigations into 14 suspected chemical attacks in the Syrian civil
war. UN inspectors began investigating alleged attacks in Damascus in August 2013. Their inves- tigation was confined to authenticating the use of chemical weapons and determining what types of weapons were used. The weapons inspector’s report found that there was “clear, convincing evidence of sarin gas use against civilians.” In ad- dition to sarin, the Syrian government has been accused of using mustard gas and VX – all prohib- ited under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The Syrian civil war began in 2011, when oppo- sition groups began demonstrating against the Assad regime. As tensions escalated, the Assad regime allegedly used chemical weapons on the civilian population. The alleged chemical attacks happened on August 21, 2013 in Ghouta, east of Damascus. Ghouta was a rebel-held, pre- dominantly Sunni agricultural area and had been sieged by Hezbollah for months. Among the 1,338 victims, 355 died and roughly 3,600 more suffered “neurotoxic symptoms.”
Two days prior, a United Nations investigatory team, led by Åke Sellström, arrived in Ghouta to investigate the alleged attacks. Published on September 16, 2013, their official report found that “the environmental, chemical and medical samples … provide clear and convincing evi- dence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in Ein Tarma, Moadamiyah and Zamalka in the Ghouta area of Damascus.” While Sellström’s report found that 50 to 60 liters of sarin were used, Human Rights Watch suggests the number to be hundreds of kilograms instead. Sellström’s report also found that high-quality sarin was used.
At the time of the attack, Syria was not party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which de- mands that its signatories “chemically disarm.” However, their alleged actions were illegal un- der the 1925 Geneva Protocol on Gas Warfare, for which Syria is party to. Despite this, though, some critics were skeptical that Syria could be
ILSA Quarterly » volume 22 » issue 2 » December 2013 13
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