All of the optimism for this week’s Baghdad summit between the P5+1 and Iran came to naught, with the US announcing that they “obviously” would never make even the minor concessions sought in the preliminary deal.
Wendy Sherman, the head of the US “negotiating” team, to the extent that they did any negotiating, left Baghdad and headed straight for Israel, where she will “reaffirm our unshakeable commitment to Israel.”
Israel loudly condemned the summit the moment it was announced, insisting it was a “gift” to Iran that allowed it to continue its civilian nuclear program unimpeded. Last week Israeli officials were in near panic-mode on the reports that a deal was possible.
The talks didn’t entirely collapse, but no agreement was made beyond the two sides moving forward next month with more talks in Russia. Sherman’s talk with the Israelis will likely focus on how those talks won’t go anywhere either.
