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in the middle. of a bill in blue and resort and spa. six thirty in moscow these are your headlines brome rings the alarm bell fearing a tidal wave of immigrants fleeing the turmoil in north africa could overwhelm italy thousands of refugees have already reached the italian island of lampedusa with as many as three hundred thousand more feared to be on their way. a general strike paralyzing greece with fierce clashes in athens as thousands rally against austerity measures many fear e.u. governments will pick up the tab for sending aid to troubled middle eastern countries at the expense of their own populations. and hiv patients in ukraine blame corruption and mismanagement for delays in getting lifesaving drugs some

supplement their treatment with alternative medicine in the hope of really. looks at whether sanctions against iran are working and what could be next for the government in tehran spotlight coming your way next. to the. blizzard of winter blues slopes and try out some tent got a little caliber excitement it's southern melting. triggers to keep you in top form and watch live on the gulag carving the trail of the sochi twenty fourth. one technology update here on. the future.

hello again they're welcome to spotlight the interview show on r.t. i'm now going all today my guest is salome. the international atomic energy agency is preparing a report on iran's nuclear program and most likely it won't be in iran's favor the agency accuses terror of lack of cooperation this report because western states who are evidence to tighten the pressure on the country but other carol sanctions bringing a result here is the head of the panel of experts of the u.n. security council's the rand sanctions committee salomé zurabishvili. so a measure of this really was the first woman to take office of the foreign ministry of georgia hers was the time when the country was changing and supplied by the new leader mikhail saakashvili but after a conflict with a parliament she was sacked and later moved to opposition. last year she left

georgian politics altogether saying there is no democracy in the country now they experience diplomatic. group on iran. how on this sort of issue to thank you very much for being with us today and you for receiving thanks well first of all in june last year the u.n. security council imposed a fourth set of us engineered sanctions on iran's financial and military sectors all these sanctions working this is the question i'm asking many people who come to the studio here are one of the best people to ask this question yes this is the the question and there is not an answer to the question yes or no. and the generally consensus on this on this question is that yes they are working in delaying the program the nuclear program of iran

it is affecting the nuclear program of iran it has not obviously yet stopped the iranian program it has not yet changed the political will of the iranian authorities otherwise probably they wouldn't be sanctions any longer if that were the case so we're somewhere in the gray zone where we know that this has some effect and that's where. the panel of experts that has been created by the security council of the united nations which i'm coordinating that's where it comes into being because what will you call it leading the united nations efforts can you say well we shouldn't the first goes up that much but i know that takes you are just not call everybody is is

the iranian response to to the u.n. concerns about the real nuclear program today is it better is it more positive and constructive that it was before the sanctions were difficult to say probably not. is going to tell us whether they're more responsive they were not more responsive in the. negotiations we don't know yet whether they are more responsive it's the report of the that will tell us whether they have been able to get more answers from the from the iranians but that's not the main seeing the main thing is the appreciation that it has had some effect to slow down their efforts that it's making their development of a nuclear program. more difficult. and hopefully it will impact it's all a question of time it's our time versus the time that the iranians are trying to

gain on the international community but is something changing in the west we go through example today i read it i think in the washington post on this site that that even the cia is beginning to have doubts about the fact that iran is really working on the nuclear bomb and near and has been rejecting that all the time and russia was never sure that it that it was true are you having any doubts that in the us or the west is still united that we should fight the possible nuclear threat well first of all i'm not the west. secondly i know the cia and we're going to washington hear that and know we're going to washington next week and we're ready to hear what is the assessment of the americans all services and official administration about the iranian nuclear threat. i wanted to hear the russian assessment about what is the state today of the of the nuclear

threat but we didn't get that assessment because it's not really strictly in our mandate to amend it is to implement better the sanctions and not to judge about where is the nuclear war with russia rather could have at least told you their point you did i think that's what i tried to say that for the background it would have been using although i recognize that it's not strictly speaking so maybe something's changing in the russian poet if you that they look voicing it like you really know i think that the the assessment they keep for their selves and they are all right to do so because it's not our strict mandate again i want to emphasize that but it's useful for us as a background i don't think that there is anything changing at least from what we heard in the russian position this position was made. very clear that russian is russia is supportive of the sanctions as they are i think the fact that russia

received today the panel of experts is a sign of the fact that russia is still behind very much this efforts of the international community as the other members the fact that the russian foreign minister did receive me as the coordinator of the panel which is really appreciated by us because it's also giving a sense of the support that russia is giving to this force will all in the same boat i think do you have any comment turn your order on your meeting with mr lovell of this or is a suit off the record. it was a one on one so it's not at all on the record but i think that it's safe to say we're what i can say about it is first of all that we discussed only iranian matters and only the implementation of sanctions and no other question for people that wouldn't be second guessing what we might have discussed that i am in my capacity here only for that. and again position was made very clear

to me what is the russian position on the implementation of sanction that there is full support for these sanctions they exist today for the mandate of the panel which is to try to implement these sanctions as efficiently as possible and that's the common effort on which we're all working and he hears the rain you position the iranian president ahmadinejad he once again said recently that the sanctions i quote have had no effect on the country's economy and quote is it true how painful are really the sanctions father for the government for business and for ordinary people well first of all i like these statements of millionaires that because our objective. the international community's objective is not to hurt the iranian people and not necessarily to hurt you run an economy there might be side

effects of the sanctions that do hurt iranian economy and even sometimes unfortunately iranian people but that is not our objective our objective one and only is to slow down the nuclear program and what really the international community is worried about which is its possible military application the weaponization of the nuclear program and to gain time and to open the space for negotiation that will bring results so it's certainly not so if archimedean if that says that it doesn't hurt the iranian population that's something that he had looking absolutely ok but on the other hand when he said that it doesn't affect the iranian authorities i'm not sure that is true because we are looking as a panel of experts to another side of the story which is what are the iranians

trying to do to circumvent the sanctions and it has been very clear to us since the start of our work which is only like two months two and a half months. that iranians are trying very hard to circumvent this time sanctions are trying to invent new ways new directions new. regions through we should go or how to circumvent financial sanctions and that is a very clear and very objective and very impartial way to measure that the sanctions are reaching their objective you know their result in direct result of these actions of those maybe the fact that for the second time in a week the iranian opposition is. bringing tens of thousands of people to the streets across the country in iraq and the people are protesting against was going

on in the country need this be an indirect result of the sanctions because of the hardships the sanctions are causing to they got people are hitting the street. again draw such a congestion again in devising the sanctions the international community the security council was very cautious about the fact not to hit directly that's why the iranian sanctions have been called intelligent sanctions as opposed to the all out broad sanctions that were used before by the international community so they were cautious about the iranian population and not to hurt more the iranian population which is probably already in a difficult situation given the state internal situation but of course there can be some side effects that nobody can really fully prevent so it's difficult to make. a conclusion and say well this is

a consequence directly of the sanctions i think the iranian authorities have been trying to blame the sanctions for the hardships of the population they're trying to divert to the international community the responsibility of the hardships of their own population which is probably due to many other things than to the sanctions the fact is that's the only thing that we can say today that they are some some movement in iran that this is a subject for probably international concern and attention says some low mase do not wish really they had of the panel of experts of the u.n. security council's iran sanctions committee she's in favor of intelligent. spotlight will be back shortly after the break so stay with us a little. the

song. i. play. go in. wealthy british style. time to cut off. the market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global

economy with max concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our. welcome back to spotlight on al gore and often just a reminder that my guest in the studio here today is sallow may be should be the end of the panel of experts of the u.n. security council iran sanctions committee visit i'm assuring the i have got a quote here from the ambassador. to russia mr sajad the and here's what he says quote iran is ready and willing to continue negotiations here and answer the questions of the e e the. atomic energy. agency so there is no point in continuing anti iran sanctions and what is the united nations security council if this is

true is it ready to let the sanctions in times. well i think that the position has been made very clearly again by the security council and by the international community and the members that are taking part in these sanctions that it's all dependent about iran satisfying all the conditions that the putting to civil nuclear energy apparently up to now the international atomic energy agency has not been fully satisfied has not had enough answers to its own questions has not been able to visit all the sites that it wanted to visit where we are just in the process of waiting a new report from the international atomic agency which will see what it says i cannot in advance. say anything about

a report from this international organization that will be certainly very important in determining the position of the members of the security council but just the fact that iran says that it's satisfying the international atomic energy condition is not sufficient it has to do so as for negotiations with the best of my knowledge and again i'm only in the business of sanctions i'm not in the other party there are two sides to the same boat in the negotiations we all have heard i guess the same thing that in istanbul and nothing was achieved a because the iranian did come with a very closed position and didn't really any possibility for negotiations that doesn't mean that the road towards a negotiation is closed clearly sanctions are here for as long as they are needed negotiations are a possibility for as long as soon as the iranian authorities are ready so lonely

you have the russian foreign minister out. hours ago one well the last word we heard from mr love ralph is i quote was again. slapping new you know actual sanctions on iran will damage its economy and undermine efforts by the un security council's three plus three group is this point of view shared by other members of the security council do you think other countries specially the european countries share this point of view or this problem a split the these curios i don't know they probably have different views for what concerns the panel of experts so we have a very clear mandate which is to deal with the existing sanctions and to try to make recommendations to improve their implementations so we have not been offered views about any other possible sanctions at least at this stage and we are

not the body that would be dealing with any new set of sanctions especially if there are unilateral it's a totally different question which nobody will consult us about but we are clearly in a position that is the panel is here to help the sanctions committee and the security council to better implement to widely implement the most universally possible the sanctions that exist and clearly there is a link the more broadly widely and efficiently the sanctions that exist are implemented the less incentive there might be for certain countries to come up with additional sanctions so that's not for us to decide the i.a.e.a. the international atomic energy agency report. is going to include as we have heard special annex on the issue of iran's disputed nuclear program

ahead of a meeting in early march have you heard anything about it and do you. do you really have any idea about that the counter to this report who would really be and radiant i mean if i sadly were you i wouldn't be telling blackberry away because that would be clearly out of the very strict mandate that i have and certainly not authorized to talk in advance about what might be or might not be in the report of the international atomic agency. and the only thing that i'm allowed to say and i think it's very clear for everyone that it will be a very important report because everybody's now expecting to see in what direction it goes what are the findings of the international atomic energy what is it that they would like to see and after especially the failure or the non result of these stumble negotiations it's even more important but certainly they are the only

one to come at least one of them everybody everybody is saying that it's in no way is going to be any favorable for iran can you confirm that it will be very tough and i don't know what the these words are precise enough tough against or for i guess that in the best of their understanding the people of the traditional had to make it will be trying to reflect what is their findings what is the reality what the day i've been able to visit which sites which side they have not been able to visit what are their concerns about specific developments that are occurring within iran and it's very easy to change those qualifications from tough and iran and it's enough for the runnion authorities to come up with a few very clear and precise answers to the questions that are asked by the international community and maybe to relieve a lot of the concerns that are existing. and fortunately up to now i think that we

didn't do not hear those answers from the iranians turkey is pretty. prosing mediation to be made here between iran and the p five plus one group is there any is there a response is the p five plus one ready to accept to this very issue well the stumbling negotiations took place in istanbul and the holes to was was turkey turkey and brazil have tried to mediate something which has not for the time being given results the stumble good solutions where without any form of result or without any form of new perspective even in the sense of having the set stayed for another meeting of that kind so i think that the whole question today is really no where we're all waiting the important new step might be the

report of the day and from that on probably there will be discussions on where to go and how to go. solo me we've been just before this they said to you for acutely studio we were discussing the situation in the middle east well do you think that the rising that the rising instability all over the middle east can somehow influence the situation around iran the casey issues and the right nuclear program settlement on the iranian issue. i'm certainly not a middle east expert and i'm certainly not in my position to start discussing internal developments in a number of countries many of those countries we intend by the way to visit in the coming months to discuss with them the implementation of the sanctions the problems they might have said i would really refrain from commenting on their internal

developments but on the other hand the. very clearly. to would be absurd to consider that things of that importance that are happening in the wider region would not have any effect whatsoever on the situation in iran on the situation around iran we want to go and discuss with those countries about how to improve or how to help them in some cases to implement the sanctions we were planning and are planning to have a seminar on those questions in bahrain all of this might be of course affected depending on how things evolve in the region but i cannot certainly qualify and give a lower get well i'll try to train of the one concerning iraq by the u.n. security council should be for moving the passage of iran's navy through the sleaze

canal chorus do you think it may aggravate the situation in the middle east hopefully the situation today. that's quite important because we know that many of the sayings that we're trying to monitor on the sanctions issue many of those goes through shipments from different part of the world to different part of the world that concerns iranian arms exports which are also included in the reason than and we've been recently to nigeria to inspect one of these cases of violation of the result. so clearly the fact that iran is given a free way maybe without much control given the situation today sue the suez canal is a new development that we will have to certainly keep an eye on and see what and how the sanctions committee would react to that given the evolving situation.

another question certainly i just can't go without asking you this question you have been. and a very high ranking french diplomat then you've been the foreign minister of georgia and this you call yours you call your native country in your native language now you are in europe you're an international diplomat no longer a georgian difference does that mean since you were in the opposition actually the georgian opposition that that you're not going back to georgia and in time soon which means that there's no not going to be any political change big political change in and in georgia and in terms of i have a very strict interpretation of my position as an international experts. working this day for the united nations security council so i will not make anything that will be equivalent to a political declaration the only thing i will say in that matter is that when i left to georgia i said that i was taking time off georgian politics because of the

situation that i was facing their time off and starting off it's not for ever so for a period of time that i don't know how long it will last so so you are an optimist are you definitely optimism whenever i dealing with the i'm always optimistic thank you that is english thank you very much was a pleasure seeing you in this studio and just a reminder that salah made sure that bush really was here tonight to be sure my guest today she's the head of the panel of experts of the u.n. security council iran sanctions committee that's it for the for all of us here and we will be back with more first then a comment from the cars going on in and outside russia also then stay in r.t. and take your place.