The American Israel Public Affairs Committee offers a five-point plan, which includes “short notice” nuclear inspections “anytime and anywhere”, including all military locations; maintaining sanctions until Iran’s cooperation is assured; extending any deal’s expiration date; demanding that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure retains no path to a nuclear weapon; and applying scrutiny to Iran’s weaponization efforts. We’ll talk to Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee and has led the fight to give Congress a say in the process. “[W]e are careful about the independence of the IAEA and their autonomy, and they’re working together with us but not for us and make their own decisions”, the official said.
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But officials said over the weekend they were nowhere near a final accord. Instead, the United States and the European Union would each lay the groundwork for lifting sanctions, a time-consuming task that involves drafting regulations and notifying banks, among other measures.
Iran is willing to grant the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the global Atomic Energy Agency, access to the “people and places” it seeks to verify the correctness and completeness of Iran’s future nuclear declarations, he said.
As always we’ll have our panel to comment on the week’s headlines. “That, I think, is going to be the test as to whether we get a deal or not”.
Salehi is a crucial player in the negotiations but had back surgery last month and has only participated in the talks by telephone of late.
Iran is in talks with the U.S, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russian Federation on an agreement under which it would curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
The terms of that November 2013 deal commit Iran to not expand nuclear programs during the ensuing negotiations.
The Iranian president noted that Iran like other member-states of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) should achieve its full nuclear rights and there should be no discrimination in this regard.
As the talks over Tehran’s nuclear energy program are underway in Vienna, Amano arrived in Tehran on Wednesday night and is scheduled to meet with Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, later today to discuss key issues regarding a long-awaited deal between the two sides.
Amano traveled to Iran to clarify some of the inspection and verification issues in the talks.
This may seem like a major concession on Iran’s part at first glance, but read the quote again and a single sentence introduces the caveat.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is reported by Tasnim to have scheduled separate meetings with his German and British counterparts Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Philip Hammond.
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“Over the next few days, the fate of the biggest diplomatic gamble of the Obama presidency may hinge on the freedom of Mr. Amano’s small, overburdened teams of inspectors to investigate evidence about past activity and pursue any suspicions – including those about activities on military bases – as questions come up”, according to the Times.
