That, too, is insane, and while Kerry eventually walked his remarks back, it’s disheartening that America’s top negotiator would volunteer an asterisk big enough for Iran to drive a weapon of mass destruction through.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the global Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should play its proper role in the nuclear talks between Iran and the P+1 group without being influenced by world powers, Press TV reports. Both face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home in countries that have been enemies since Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
“We are sure that the deal will be reached and that it will be comprehensive”, added Ryabkov, who is the Russian senior negotiator.
Rowhani’s office only quoted him as saying that Iran “is prepared to clarify the remaining issues” with the IAEA within existing global regulations, neither confirming nor ruling out acceptance of intrusive inspections.
While the Iranian official made considerable efforts to talk in terms of compromise, the history of the negotiations shows that what Tehran describes as flexibility often falls short of the kinds of inspection regimes that President Barack Obama could sell to Congress – or that would be consistent with the administration’s own descriptions of its bottom lines.
But Iran rejects any extraordinary inspection rules.
Tehran says its program is exclusively for peaceful energy, medical and research purposes, but wants a deal to level the mountain of sanctions that have crippled its economy. The protocol gives the IAEA expanded access to declared and undeclared nuclear sites, and to the sensitive information of the more than 120 governments that accept its provisions.
Still, the official said that initially the agreement would be carried out on a voluntary basis and that only later would Iran take it to the Parliament for formal implementation.
“I don’t think we are at any breakthrough moment yet, but the work is continuing”, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
“I believe that both sides have a better understanding on some ways forward, though more work will be needed”, Amano said.
VIENNA, Austria – Global powers appeared late Friday, July 3 to be inching towards a historic nuclear deal as the Iranian foreign minister said the world had never been closer to ending a 13-year standoff with Tehran.
Iran and the six countries had initially planned to reach a deal by June 30, but decided at the last minute to prolong talks for up to a week.
Two weeks after the U.S. State Department reported Iran’s support for terrorism is undiminished, and as diplomats work to seal a nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday shared a video touting Iran’s fight against Islamic radicals.
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The aim is to finalise a deal which would put a nuclear bomb beyond Iran’s reach, in return for lifting a web of biting worldwide sanctions slapped on the Islamic republic.
