TEHRAN, Iran — Former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Hans Blix is in Tehran to meet with senior officials. On March 11-12, Blix met with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as well as Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign policy adviser to Iran’s supreme leader. In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Blix spoke of his meetings as well as various aspects of the nuclear issue.
Referring to his discussions with Zarif and Velayati, Blix said talk “inevitably” centered on the nuclear negotiations with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1), with a focus on “expectations, difficulties and format.” He expressed optimism about the nuclear talks and how they have proceeded, saying that he is “glad to see and hear that bets in the Western world [on a final deal] are now more like 60-40 than 50-50.” While pointing out that he’s convinced of “strong will” in both the US and Iranian administrations to come to agreement, he stressed that there are many obstacles and spoilers. In the face of the latter, Blix noted that “President [Barack] Obama has one big ally — US war fatigue.”
