Britain Playing "Bad Cop"

MP Javad Jahangirzadeh says British Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent anti-Iran comments indicate that Britain is seeking to replace France which has played the role of “bad cop” in nuclear negotiations between Iran and the major powers.

“Such flagrant remarks were planned in advance and are a clear sign of a Western plot” Jahangirzadeh told the Mehr news agency on Saturday.  

In his address to the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Cameron said Tehran and London have severe disagreements on Iran’s alleged support for terrorist organizations, its nuclear program, and its treatment of its people.

The lawmaker added, “We have seen similar behavior in the past” and such comments provide evidence that the path to reach a final deal will be “uneven” and “difficult”.

In the second round of Geneva talks last year, which led to an interim deal, France scuttled a possible deal between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, Russia, France, China, Britain, and Germany) over Tehran’s nuclear program through raising the issue of plutonium production at the Arak heavy-water reactor.  

At the time, Iranian officials and media accused France of playing the role of “bad cop” by trying to undermine the talks to save the face of the United States and its allies.  

Iran and its negotiating partners are now engaged in talks to build on the interim accord to work out a long-term settlement to the nuclear dispute by a November 24 target date. The latest round of talks on a final deal was held in New York from September 19 to 26.

The Geneva deal took effect on January 20 and was to expire six months later. However, Iran and the major powers agreed in July to extend their talks on a comprehensive agreement and continue implementing the interim accord four for more months as they remained divided on a number of key issues.