Western Diplomats Giving Up on Iran Deal, Not Ready to Declare Talks ‘Dead’

Little hope left for a way forward

The Vienna talks on Iran nuclear deal have been on hold for seven weeks. The terms of the deal are almost entirely finalized, and just some minor resolutions could have finished things. Instead, it seems that this is where things are to remain.

Weeks of pessimism have taken hold, and Western nations are ready to give up on the deal, but not quite ready to announce their failure.

Officials across the West seem unanimous on this, that there is no real hope for any more progress, and they’re just going to coast until some point where they declare the talks dead.

Why is there a wait on declaring the talks dead? That’s less clear. Officials may want to try to come up with some event that they can use as a pretext, to make it seem less like their fault, or Biden may want to tie it to his upcoming visit in Israel, to gain the most diplomatic points off of them for it.

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.