Friday, November 21, 2014

Fog of Diplomacy

As Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen writes from Vienna, Fog of diplomacy settles over final stretch of Iran nuclear talks, as Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif mostly stayed huddled in meetings behind close doors, with each canceling earlier announced plans to leave Vienna for further consultations. (Al-Monitor, 21 November)

Earlier in the day, officials close to the talks had told Reuters that the talks might be extended from Monday until March due to sharp differences still existing between Iran and the West. However, on Friday night it looks as if the two sides are working hard to achieve not just an extension of JPOA, as they did in July, but agreeing on a framework agreement toward a comprehensive deal, a JPOA+, if you will.

“What we are all focused on now is trying to get the key principles of a deal agreed over the next 72 hours so that we can meet that important deadline,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told journalists in Vienna. (Al-Monitor, 21 November)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nobody needs a "framework" at this point.

the negotiations have gone on more for than enough time for all parties to understand the desires of all the other parties and for all issues to have been considered.

if there is a reasonable chance for a deal to be made at this time, then it will be glaringly obvious to the negotiators as to the identity of the issues preventing the deal.