Swiss memorandum

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Swiss Memorandum is the name of a two-page letter dated May 4, 2003 from the then Swiss Ambassador to Iran , Tim Guldimann .

Content and background

The Swiss memorandum contains a report on Guldimann's talks with Sadeq Charrazi, the Iranian ambassador in Paris, and a detailed negotiation proposal, called a roadmap , by the Iranian leadership to break through the diplomatic "wall of silence" between Iran and the USA . Diplomatic relations between Iran and the USA have been broken off since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and are administered on a temporary basis by the Swiss representation. Guldimann forwarded the Iranian leadership's offer to the US State Department, which ignored it. Secretary of State Colin Powell , to whom the fax was presented, could not or would not get his way with President George W. Bush . "I couldn't sell the document in the White House," he reportedly said.

The then US security advisor Condoleezza Rice said she could not remember the advance of the Swiss embassy, ​​while the former Deputy Foreign Minister Richard Armitage attributed the failure of the US to react to the fact that the Iranian and Swiss positions could not have been distinguished.

The Swiss Memorandum names the following goals of the two states, which should be addressed in negotiations.

United States Goals

  • Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): Full transparency to ensure that there are no Iranian aspirations to develop or own WMD; full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the basis of the Iranian adoption of all relevant instruments (93 + 2 and all other IAEA protocols).
  • Terrorism: Strong action against all terrorists (especially al-Qaida etc.) on Iranian territory; full cooperation and exchange of all relevant information.
  • Iraq: Coordinating Iranian influence to actively support political stabilization and to create democratic institutions and a democratic government that represents all ethnic and religious groups in Iraq.
  • Middle East:
    1. Cessation of all material support for Palestinian opposition groups ( Hamas , Islamic Jihad ) from Iranian territory; Pressure on these organizations to refrain from acts of violence against civilians within the 1967 borders.
    2. Influence Hezbollah to become an exclusively political and social organization within Lebanon .
    3. Accept the two-state approach.

Goals of Iran

  • The USA refrains from supporting a change of the political system through direct interference from outside.
  • Lift all sanctions: economic sanctions, frozen assets, refusal to join the WTO .
  • Iraq: persecution of the People's Mojahedin , support for the deportation of its members; Support for Iranian demands for Iraqi war compensation; no Turkish invasion of northern Iraq; Respect for national Iranian interests in Iraq and religious ties with Najaf / Karbala .
  • Access to peaceful nuclear technology, biotechnology and chemical technology.
  • Recognition of Iran's legitimate security interests in the region with adequate defense capabilities.
  • Terrorism: Action against the MKO and its affiliated organizations in the USA.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knut Mellenthin: US government ignored Iranian offer to negotiate ( memento of the original from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.knutmellenthin.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , www.knutmellenthin.de, February 20, 2007
  2. ↑ Stern.de of February 15, 2007
  3. ↑ Glenn Kessler: 2003 Memo Says Iranian Leaders Backed Talks , Washington Post, February 14, 2007 (English)