Eye on Iran: Iran Nuclear Talks Result Doubted Year After Geneva Break

Join UANI           Top Stories Bloomberg: "Diplomats wrangling over Iran's nuclear program risk missing their self-imposed deadline for a final accord, casting doubt on the outcome of the talks one year after they began. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meets with his European Union counterpart, Catherine Ashton, in Vienna today and the two will be joined tomorrow by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The talks, which began Oct. 15 last year in Geneva and yielded an interim agreement that is still in place, are scheduled to conclude by Nov. 24, giving the sides a six-week window. 'We are not going back to where we were a year ago,' Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said last night in an interview on state television. 'How we will make progress and whether the agreement will be finalized in these remaining 40 days, whether some parts will remain, whether it will be extended or not -- these are matters that are being discussed.' ... 'It appears increasingly likely there will not be a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program by the late-November deadline,' Gary Samore, a former U.S. nuclear negotiator who now works at Harvard University, said in an online interview. An extension of the talks 'could be possible,' said Samore, who is also president of United Against Nuclear Iran, the New York-based lobbyist. Iran too has been positioning itself for failure. Without progress during this two-day round, the sides 'definitely won't reach the final accord' in the time they have left to them, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Oct. 11. He too said that the talks could be extended." http://t.uani.com/1wzdjWB AP: "With differences still unresolved and the deadline for a deal nearing, Iran and the U.S. have a choice to make: Extend nuclear talks for a second time or face the risk of renewed confrontation and armed conflict. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets Wednesday in Vienna with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to try and advance the talks and meet the target date of Nov. 24. But with less than six weeks left until Nov. 24, there may be no alternative to prolonging them... The Americans insist the focus remains on sealing a deal by the end of the current four-month extension, but refuse to rule out that they will continue past Nov. 24. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that Tehran is already talking to the U.S. and five other world powers at the talks about a possible extension. That may not happen, though, if the critics have their way... 'I think the extension will be very difficult to negotiate,' says Gary Samore, who left the U.S. team negotiating with Iran last year. 'It is likely to be strongly resisted both in Washington and Tehran.'" http://t.uani.com/1z7j2Zl LAT: "A drop in global oil prices, driven in part by a boom in U.S. shale oil production, is threatening to hit the economies of energy-exporting Russia and Iran harder than Western economic sanctions have done. Prices have fallen about 20% on world markets since June because of an increase in oil production and an economic slowdown in Asia and Europe. If that continues, as many analysts expect, gasoline may sell below $3 a gallon at the pump in much of the United States... It is also a harsh blow to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who campaigned on a promise to improve his nation's stagnating economy despite Western sanctions. The latest pressure is also weakening Iran's hand in international negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear program. The oil glut 'is very bad news for them,' said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economist and Iran specialist at Virginia Tech University... Iran, like Russia, needs an oil price of more than $100 a barrel to balance its budget, experts say. And the benchmark Brent crude price is below $85 a barrel." http://t.uani.com/11iVnWN     Nuclear Program & Negotiations Reuters: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday a nuclear deal with the West was bound to happen and he believed it could be achieved by a November 24 deadline. 'We have reached consensus on generalities and there are only the fine details to be worked out: whether we would reach an agreement within the next 40 days, if the time will be extended, etc.,' the president told his people in a late evening address broadcast live on television. 'Of course details are important too, but what's important is that the nuclear issue is irreversible. I think a final settlement can be achieved in these remaining 40 days. We will not return to the situation a year ago. The world is tired and wants it to end, resolved through negotiations,' he said. 'A nuclear settlement is certain,' he said, vowing to 'apply all our efforts in that direction.'" http://t.uani.com/1p8P0KY Reuters: "Iran does not expect a breakthrough in nuclear talks with the United States and the European Union this week but hopes they will help pave the way for a final deal, its foreign minister said on Tuesday. Mohammad Javad Zarif, quoted by Iran's Fars news agency, was speaking upon arrival in Vienna, where he was due to meet European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will join them on Wednesday... 'Although we do not expect a breakthrough in the trilateral negotiations (between Zarif, Ashton and Kerry) ... still this round could pave the way for a final agreement,' Fars quoted Zarif as saying on Tuesday. 'On the agenda is the volume of uranium enrichment and the timetable for lifting the sanctions,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1r1KCgt Sanctions Relief Fars (Iran): "IKCO has designed a van and roofed pick-up based on X90 platform, the development of which has been negotiated with Renault Pars Company, Iran-Khodro Company Deputy CEO for Tondar Production Reza Motamed said... Regarding the cooperation between Renault and IKCO companies, he asserted, 'Both parties are inclined to continue their cooperation and should the international barriers be removed, this collaboration can move on to higher levels.'" http://t.uani.com/1w02qOz Islamic State Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday blamed the United States and the 'wicked' British government for creating the Islamic State in his first speech since undergoing prostate surgery last month. The sharp remarks were a reminder of Iranian suspicions about the West despite the emergence of the ultra-hardline Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria as the common foe of Tehran and Washington. 'America, Zionism, and especially the veteran expert of spreading divisions - the wicked government of Britain - have sharply increased their efforts of creating divisions between the Sunnis and Shi'ites,' he said, according to his website, in a speech marking a Shi'ite Muslim religious holiday... 'A careful and analytic look at the developments reveals that the U.S. and its allies, in efforts that are falsely termed countering Daesh, seek to create division and enmity among the Muslims rather to destroy the root causes of that (terrorist) current,' Khamenei said. 'Shi'ites and Sunnis must know that any action or remark, including insulting one another, leads to increased sensitivities and ignite flames. This will certainly benefit the common enemy of all Muslims.'" http://t.uani.com/1w00mWS RFE/RL: "A former Iranian minister of intelligence, Heydar Moslehi, has added his voice to the growing number of hard-line critics of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State militant group (IS) in Syria and Iraq. In an interview with Fars News, a news outlet affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Moslehi said the coalition was a 'bazeecheh' -- a Persian word meaning a 'plaything' or a 'trifling amusement.' Islamic State, Moslehi said, was created by 'the triangle of Mossad, MI6, and the CIA,' a reference to the Israeli, British, and U.S. intelligence agencies." http://t.uani.com/1sG9GQG Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Senior Saudi and Iranian officials have renewed criticism of each other's interventions in the Middle East in a sign that tensions between the rival Gulf powers remain high despite top-level meetings this summer. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal repeated longstanding accusations that Iran is an 'occupying force' in Syria, while Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian attacked the kingdom's role in Bahrain. Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are enmeshed in a struggle for influence across the Middle East and they support opposing sides in wars and political disputes in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen... 'If Iran wants to be part of the solution, it has to pull its forces from Syria. The same applies elsewhere, whether in Yemen or Iraq,' Prince Saud was quoted by local media as saying on Monday, reverting to Riyadh's habitual rhetoric about Iran." http://t.uani.com/1w4wLup Opinion & Analysis WSJ Editorial: "Lost in the chaos of the Middle East is that the United States and Iran are fast approaching next month's deadline to strike a deal on Tehran's nuclear program. This has been teed up for years as the crown jewel of President Obama 's foreign-policy legacy. On current course, it's more likely to end up as another setback to U.S. security. President Obama's insistence on consulting largely with himself on the world's most complex issues is well known. Most troublesome for the outcome with Iran is his rejection of needed support from Congress. The Administration is currently leaning on Democrats in the Senate to block an attempt by Republicans to give Congress a say on any Iran accord. In late July, Bob Corker , Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and John McCain -the GOP's strongest voices on foreign policy-introduced the 'Iran Nuclear Negotiations Act of 2014.' The bill compels the Administration to submit any agreement for Senate review within three days of completion. If Iran walks away from the table without a deal, the sanctions waived last November would be immediately reimposed. The bill also puts in place a quick mechanism to reimpose sanctions in case Iran cheats on a deal. Both provisions are sensible safeguards... Throughout the negotiations, however, the Obama Administration has gone out of its way to weaken the U.S. negotiating hand. Earlier this year, the White House twisted arms in the Senate to abandon a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by 60 of the chamber's 100 legislators, that put in place stronger sanctions against Iran in case those talks failed. Despite Mr. Obama's opposition, the Senate had led the push to hit Iran's economy harder, forcing the regime to the table. Noting Iran's opposition to this year's sanctions bill, Administration officials said they wanted to send a goodwill gesture to Tehran. As the summer deadline extension showed, the Iranians offered nothing in return. Under the Constitution, the Senate is obliged to ratify formal treaties with other nations by a two-thirds majority vote. But the Iran deal would be a multiparty agreement, rather than a treaty, and thus doesn't require Senate ratification. Most sanctions on Iran can also be lifted by executive order. The real contribution of the Corker-Graham bill is that it gives the U.S. stronger leverage with Tehran. The message it sends to Iran is that Congress won't sign off on a bad agreement that puts America's interests at risk and is ready to double down on sanctions, the only pressure Iran understands... The signal the U.S. is sending is that 'we need them more than they need us,' a senior European policy maker told us. The Senate bill is the one stick available to change this exceedingly dangerous impression. A smart White House would grab it." http://t.uani.com/1wzkQoe     Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.