19 May 2013
Tuesday, 29 May 2012 09:43

Humoring the P5+1

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No Geneva, No Moscow...the next round of Nuclear talks will be held in Canary Islands. No Geneva, No Moscow...the next round of Nuclear talks will be held in Canary Islands.

The P5+1 group (five permanent members of UN Security Council plus Germany) met with Iranian officials in Baghdad last week to discuss the Iran’s good old nuclear issue. As expected, no agreement was reached, and the parties decided to meet next month in Moscow. Iran stood firm on its claim and pressed on its right to enrich Uranium for peaceful purposes while the west stayed as inflexible as always and did not promise any ease on sanctions against Iran.

Personally, after years of watching Iran-US relation, US foreign policy toward Iran and the Iran-UN encounters, I have learned to roll my eyes anytime there is going to be some sort of “diplomatic” discourse. “It’s not like anything is going to happen” I say to myself and remember how rigid world powers are in their opinion of Iran. Also, unwilling to have trust or forgiveness about the past, Iran and America will continue to go in circles in their relations.

So, politics aside, Hallelujah for humor!

Some disappointed Iranians who have no hope about these talks turned into humor to bite the bitter truth about the results of the P5+1 negotiations.

First joke going around is about Catherine Ashton’s dress when meeting the conservative Muslim Iranians officials and thanks to Photoshop, her next outfit is predicted.

The second joke is about the next month’s talk.

An Iranian cartoonist, Javad Tarighi Akbarpour from namaknews.ir depicts: You couldn’t defeat us in Istanbul or Baghdad, you might want to come to Moscow with your elders.

Finally, immediately after the talks, here or (via Internet) in Iran, I came across many Iranians who were praising Iran’s stand for its right to Nuclear Power. Some were saying that sending a group of well educated Iranians to lead the discussion shows the world Iran’s professional handling of the situation. Others were just laughing at the West for losing yet another opportunity for peacemaking with Iran.

“It has nothing to do with the Mullas,” an Iranian-American mechanic told me on Friday at a dinner party and added “It’s our right.” The next day, I saw this cartoon on a Farsi website that captures the attitude I got from ordinary Iranians (not the politicians.)

By Parisa Saranj, Aslan Media Columnist

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About the Columnist: Parisa Saranj

Parisa is a journalism graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is currently a MFA Creative non-Fiction writing candidate at Goucher College. She began writing about her native country, Iran, at her personal blog IranStories.com to share everything she loves about Iran and Iranians, minus all the politics (if that's possible).

Tired of being asked the most basic questions about Iran, all based on stereotypes and lies, Parisa just wanted to provide a pure image of what life is like in Iran...what is it like to be an Iranian woman. Now, Parisa brings her I Heart Iran section from IranStories.com exclusively to Aslan Media.

Follow Parisa on Twitter @parissasaranj
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