Western Diplomats: Iran Talks Made Progress

Israeli Officials Reject Talks, Accuse West of Trying to Avoid War

Western diplomats continue to express hope that this week’s Kazakhstan negotiations with Iran will lead to a deal, saying that there were signs of progress but that how much won’t be clear until the next meeting in April.

Iranian officials had expressed similar optimism about the talks, calling them a major turning point and saying that for basically the first time in years of talks Western nations seem interested in serious negotiations and making an actual deal, as opposed to just threatening invasion and railing on about their demands.

All this talk of something other than war isn’t sitting well with Israel’s hawkish leadership, and Avigdor Lieberman chimed in today condemning the progress and accusing the West of “standing down to search for complex diplomatic solutions instead of striving for victory and teaching them a lesson once and for all.”

Israeli officials condemned the talks before they even began, and have been pushing for open military threats instead of talks, with an eye on a summer war with Iran. Despite the progress, the US Senate passed a non-binding resolution vowing to support an Israeli attack on Iran.

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.