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Sunday, February 8, 2015

Khamenei Opposes Two-Stage Approach to Reach Final Nuclear Accord

 But 31 March Deadline for First Stage Still Exists 
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today he opposed a nuclear agreement in two stages, having a general framework agreement first and then agreeing on technical details.

“If an agreement is reached, it should include both the generalities and details in one stage,” Khamenei said. “Our experiences from the other party’s behavior indicate that in case of reaching an agreement on generalities, they will bring successive excuses in discussion of the details.” (Khamenei.ir, 8 February)

“The articles of the agreement should be clear, obvious and not prone to being interpreted according to someone’s viewpoint, “ Khamenei added.

Foreign ministers from Iran and P5+1 agreed during their 24 November to extend the JPOA, the interim agreement, set two deadlines to reach a “framework agreement” by 31 March and a final comprehensive agreement by 30 June. Khamenei is apparently opposing the implementation of two separate deadlines, weeks before the first deadline is reached. A framework agreement would have represented the political consensus among the negotiating parties for a deal, and the final agreement would have spelled out in details the terms of the accord, a generally accepted practice in international negotiations.

It was not immediately clear if the Iranian negotiating team would now back off the earlier agreement with world powers over the 1 March deadline on framework agreement. Last year, few days prior to 24 November deadline, Khamenei made a now-famous speech calling for enlarging Iran’s enrichment capacity tenfold to an equivalent of some 190,000 IR-1 centrifuges, when the negotiators were discussing setting the limits in thousands. The enrichment capacity became one of the major stumbling blocks in reaching an agreement on 24 November.

UPDATE: on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said, after meeting for a second time with Secretary of State John Kerry in Munich, that progress had been made toward a deal and that neither side wanted an extension. 


8 comments:

  1. in any event, a final agreement has to be reached by march 31 or the talks will end without one.

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  2. What I have found out on Uskowi is that if you are frank about the charlatanism of the regime as a whole your post will be prevented from being shown.Uskowi like many other so-called Iranian political blogs doesn't ask or look into the real problems of Iranian life and their solutions.They just cow tail and pander to the akhoonds daily rants.For instance,Khamenei likes to use a green aftabeh on a friday,or Rouhani wears purple slippers to enter the lavatory on a saturday.This is why Iran has been under the occupation of akhoonds for the past 36 years.I will cease posting on Uskowi because of its disappointing behavour towards its posters.Just hope Uskowi prays that the occupying regime remains so that they can continue and pander to the akhoonds and their brats daily shenanigans. I know this won't be allowed through.But what matters is that Uskowi has read this and knows what I mean.

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    1. Actually the only reason the regime is so strong is because most opposition groups are as stupid as Anonymous February 8, 2015, 1:57 PM.

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  3. I see the Progress
    I believe the enrichment Capacity are more & less agredd but
    tne Iran does not want to wait 10-20 years untel the sanctions are lifted

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    1. Indeed. And the leadership, despite it's tyrannical nature, has every right to demand immediate removal of all sanctions in return for immediate nuclear compliance on its part.

      I think I'm with Khamenei on this one.

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    2. @P.M

      So you also agree with Khamenei's underhanded tactics in suppressing the downtrodden masses?

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  4. Iranian leadership appears concerned that if they accept a general framework agreement first, then the specific details can be leveraged going into the final agreement negotiations. And if the negotiations for the final agreement fail, they will be blamed by Western leadership and what they depict as a powerful Western mass media campaign.

    Possibly in his remarks Khamenei is obliquely referencing the Geneva I Conference on Syria, where this general framework agreement specified the "establishment of a transitional governing body." However in the next stage, the U.S. and Russia were at odds over the more precise nature of that specified transition.

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