US: Iran nuclear talks extended to Friday News Agencies/Ynetnews
Latest Update:07.07.15/Israel News /Officials confirms additional extension of talks with Iran in Vienna, says ‘substantial progress’ has been made; source says deal must occur within 48 hours; US rules out removal of restrictions on missiles and conventional arms. Iran and major powers will continue negotiations on an historic nuclear deal to Friday, July 10, past a deadline for a long-term agreement, which is set to expire later on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf confirmed. Harf also said that talks had made “substantial progress. We’re frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won’t get any easier with time – that is why we are continuing to negotiate.”
But a source close to the talks said Tuesday that contrary to statements made by Iranian officials, the negotiations were not open-ended or without a deadline. “We’ve come to the end,” the source added. “We have just made one, final extension. It is hard to see how or why we would go beyond this. Either it happens in the next 48 hours, or not.”
Harf’s comments came just minutes after EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced, “We are continuing to negotiate for the next couple of days.” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he would return to Vienna on Wednesday night and that the major powers were expected to reconvene on Thursday. “We will be back here tomorrow night and we are looking forward to making some solid progress on Thursday when we reconvene,” Hammond told reporters. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there were still three main sticking points in the talks, including Tehran’s demands to continue research on advanced atomic centrifuges and sanctions. “As far as France is concerned, we are insisting especially on necessary limitations on nuclear research and development, sanctions and their re-establishment, and the possible military dimensions” of past Iranian nuclear work, said Laurent. He said he would travel to Paris on Tuesday night and return to the negotiations on Wednesday evening.
As for the details of the deal, a senior US official said Iran will continue to face restrictions on its missile program as well as its trade in conventional arms. The announcement followed Iranian demands that any deal should include an end to a UN arms embargo. The deal under discussion between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States is aimed at curbing Tehran’s most sensitive nuclear work for a decade or more, in exchange for relief from sanctions that have slashed Iran’s oil exports and crippled its economy.
“We might see some ministers leaving in the next hours and then (be) ready to come back,” Mogherini said. “We are interpreting in a flexible way our deadline, which means that we are taking the time, the days we still need, to finalize the agreement,” she said, adding that there remained several difficult issues to resolve. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a weapons embargo on Iran was the main obstacle still to be overcome at the talks with Tehran. “I can tell you that there is only one big problem in terms of sanctions – it is the problem of a weapons embargo,” Lavrov said. The negotiators missed a June 30 deadline for a final agreement and then gave themselves until Tuesday.
Marketing a bad nuclear agreement
Alex Fishman /Ynetnews
Published: 07.07.15/Israel Opinion
Op-ed: We are about to receive an Iranian product, which changes the balance of power in the region, with bright and aggressive American marketing. Had this US administration ran the Cuba crisis in 1962, the world would be controlled by the Russians today. Washington has already prepared the festive “achievements speech” of the agreement with Iran, which leans on two legs wallowing in a tremulous swamp. One leg determines that Iran will be one year away from making a breakthrough towards enriched material for the creation of its first nuclear bomb. The second leg has to do with a tight supervision regime which will last about 10 years. All the rest – how will the supervision be carried out in the future, what will Iran expose about its dark past in the nuclear area, when will the sanctions be removed and under what conditions will they be restored – is a swampy mixture of legal terms which will swallow the White House’s alleged achievements over time.
The Iranians, on their part, are continuing to abuse the Americans up to the very last moment. In the beginning of the week, they suddenly raised a new demand which had not been part of the negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif brought a nuisance into the room in the form of a demand to lift all the restrictions on the production of ballistic missiles, in violation of all the understandings related to the missile technology control regime (MTCR). Until Monday, the permanent Security Council members and Germany’s representatives were still trying to understand whether this is a real nuisance or one aimed at getting the West to give in a bit more. The Iranians are still applying pressure and will do it even five minutes after the end of the game and stoppage time – simply because they can.
US Secretary of State Kerry in Vienna. The administration is afraid that the humiliation of the framework agreement in Lausanne will repeat itself
On July 9, the American Congress goes on recess. Until July 8, the administration must present the detailed agreement to the Congress, with all its appendices. According to legislation, the Congress must review the document and ratify it within 30 days. If the document is submitted after July 9, the whole thing will be postponed by at least two months. Obama administration officials have estimated, rightfully, that two months is too long and will allow the agreement’s opponents in the House of Representatives to try to undermine it. On the other hand, if the agreement is presented now, the administration has a majority in the Congress which will approve it. That’s why Israeli officials also believe the agreement will be signed as early as this week. In this war, at the end of a holding-defense battle which lasted about 15 years, Israel lost. The defense establishment is already dealing with the day after: What will the compensation basket Israel will demand from the US look like, what will be the Israeli strategy in the new era and what will be the size of the budget against the Iranian threat. It’s very likely that Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who is in Italy this week, won’t spare his European hosts his opinion on the agreement.
Over the weekend, the Americans and Europeans overcame a key obstacle, establishing a “Security Council-bypassing” mechanism. The Iranians wanted to move the discussions in case of violations of the agreement to the Security Council, where they have the automatic veto of China and Russia which will prevent the sanctions from being restored. But the West succeeded in passing a decision to establish a committee made up of seven members, in which the Americans have a majority of four. This committee will be able to determine whether a violation has taken place and whether the sanctions should be restored. The Iranians, however, also have the option of submitting an infinite number of complaints against the West for failing to meet the agreement’s clauses, thereby flooding the committee and paralyzing it. The Americans relied on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is supposed to check what happened in Iran in the nuclear-military area in the past and is supposed to tightly supervise the implementation of the Iranian commitments in the future. But until now, the Iranians haven’t allowed a single supervisor to enter a military facility and rummage through its past. As for the future, the Iranians are still insisting that every “spontaneous” visit to a military facility will be coordinated with them.Once the agreement is signed, the Iranians will receive up to $150 billion which have been frozen in Western banks. They are now demanding an immediate cancellation of all the Security Council sanctions and a removal of the sanctions imposed by the US Congress within half a year. The Americans are saying: You’ll get money, but the Security Council and Congress sanctions will only be lifted after the IAEA submits, within half a year, a report about your military nuclear project in the past.
And what about the supervision in the future? In this case too, the Americans are racking their brains till the very last minutes, looking for a reliable, inoffensive formula which can be sold to the Congress. In fact, all the decisions made by the Americans in the past few days have been marketing decisions, with a wink towards the Congress. Had this administration ran the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the world would be controlled by the Russians today. The administration is afraid that the humiliation of the framework agreement in Lausanne in March will repeat itself now. At the time, US Secretary of State John Kerry presented the principles of the agreement, and the Iranians claimed: This is not what we agreed on. This time, therefore, everything must be signed, sealed and packed in cellophane, so that it can be sold both in Tehran and in Washington. The science of marketing, as we know, was invented by the Americans. And so we will receive an Iranian product, which changes the balance of power in the region, with bright and aggressive American marketing.
