No New Offers: Kerry Tells Iran to Respond to Old Proposal

Next Week's Talks Lacking in Specifics

Iranian Foreign Minister Javid Zarif had yesterday called for the P5+1 to bring public a new proposal for the upcoming nuclear talks, set to be held next week in Geneva.

That’s not going to happen, according to Secretary of State John Kerry, who says that the most recent proposal, issued in February and reiterated in June at Almaty, remains the standing offer and that Iran will have to discuss that.

That proposal was really more a list of US demands for Iran to unilaterally abandon large portions of its nuclear program, with the suggestion that the US might allow Iran to return to gray market barter exports, but would keep materially all other sanctions intact.

That “proposal” flies in the face of recent comments, particularly those from EU officials, which have suggested a serious deal lifting significant sanctions was possible. Instead, the Geneva meeting looks set to begin, as so many past failed rounds of talks, without a concrete plan to discuss.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.