Thursday, September 4, 2014

Iran, U.S. Meet Amid Growing Concern Over Nuclear Deal


Iran and the United States concluded the first of two days of bilateral meetings in Geneva today amid continuing impasse on the issue of the size of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity. Deputy Secretary of Sate Bill Burns, Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Jake Sullivan, the former national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, led the 11-member U.S. delegation in today’s meeting. The Iranian delegation was led by deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Ravanchi. (Al-Monitor, 4 September)

Political risk consultancy think-tank Eurasia Group said today that a comprehensive deal with Iran is unlikely.

“Primarily because the sides are at an impasse over the size of Iran’s enrichment capacity, Eurasia Group now believes that a final deal is unlikely,” said Eurasia’s Group’s Cliff Kupchan today. (Al-Monitor, 4 September)

Western diplomats have also raised concerns over Iran’s non-compliance with two of the five transparency steps it had agreed with IAEA. The deadline of 25 August passed without Iran complying with steps related to Iran’s alleged experiments on explosive devices that could be used for nuclear weapons.  

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