Iranian President Hassan Rohani has followed up yesterday’s call for diplomacy at the UN General Assembly with further comments in support of talks, saying Iran is ready for “serious” talks on its civilian nuclear program.
Rohani went on to say that there should be a timeline for the negotiations instead of just holding open-ended talks, and said he believes that a deal should be made in three to six months, and the less time, the better.
That’s clearly a must for Rohani domestically, as he was elected on a campaign promising diplomacy and international rapprochement, and if that process is seen going nowhere it could quickly cost him political support.
At the same time, US officials, particularly in Congress, have taken the position of being “tough on Iran” for so long that it’s an end unto itself, and Congressional opposition to diplomacy on general principle is going to be a big obstacle to any deal.
Uncle Sam wants CONTROL OVER THE ENTIRE GLOBE along with his with his dastardly "mighty dollar udder clinger," Israel.
Understanding the odds of a deal being reached is helped if you consider the basic positions of the three parties involved.
For it's part, the US can be quite flexible. The only core, non-negotiable point for the US is that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. This would be relatively easy to achieve since Iran doesn't have one now, and could be guaranteed with wide-ranging intrusive inspections.
Iran is also able to be flexible, as it's core interest- aside from not being bombed- appears to be only the continuation of enrichment to 3.5%. Iran would seem to be in a position to quite easily agree to as intrusive an inspection regime as the US could imagine; it could cut enrichment work to 3.5%, it might even be persuaded to dynamite the Qom/Fordo facility.
The Israeli position, on the other hand, is more difficult to satisfy.
The Israeli bottom line, repeated many times, is that Iran cannot be permitted to possess nuclear materials. That means, quite simply, shutting down all nuclear facilities in the country- the Bushehr nuclear reactor in particular, as well as the Tehran Research Reactor. It means, as Netanyahu has said many times, shipping all nuclear material out of the country.
No nuclear power, no nuclear medicine. According to Israel Iran can't be trusted to manufacture medical isotopes- or buy them, either, which would condemn some large fraction of the 850,000 Iranians who are radiotherapy patients to death.
The details of their bottom line, already clearly stated, does extend to ending the study of physics in Iranian Universities.
As Israel controls the US Congress on this issue, it's likely that we will see Obama make some half-hearted steps towards talks about talks before beating a quick and characteristic retreat, likely declaring that the Iranians are intransigent and are unwilling to discuss "the real issues".
There is of course only one real issue, which Obama will never state explicitly, with which of course Iran could never agree: the real issue is that Israel will never accept any deal that involves Iran continuing to have nuclear physics. And as long as Congress is nothing more than Israel's puppet, well, everything prior to the inevitable breakdown of negotiations is just so much theatre.
I’am sure at this very moment elements of the far right wing is trying to fabricate a story about a “dirty bomb” involving Iran. Look out for it guys, people are starting to recognize Rohani as a human being.
The plan would then be to open up sufficiently so that Russia and China can relent in the Security Council without face loss, leaving the US stranded.
"The plan would then be to open up sufficiently so that Russia and China can relent in the Security Council without face loss", allowing the US to implement their sinister plans.
the US has for years refused to actually deal with Iran rattle the sabres but NEVER actually deal with Iran, That Obama has been vocal in his comments about talking with Syria, has meant the world is watching and the overtures from Iran cannot be dismissed as easily! Do not discount that there will be a concerted opposition from the usual crowd in the Congress, those paid to do the bidding of AIPAC, This should not be allowed to happen!