Hopes rise for Iran nuclear accord soon
November 9, 2013
Western diplomats and Iran appear to be inching toward a breakthrough agreement that could slow the nation's suspected progress toward a nuclear bomb while easing some sanctions that have hobbled its economy. Top diplomats from the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany rushed to Geneva on Friday to see whether they could close the deal, which has emerged suddenly after years of frustrating stalemates and Western suspicions of Iranian cat-and-mouse games with international weapons inspectors. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov may join them on Saturday, Russia's state-run Ria Novosti news service reported. China's foreign minister is also headed to Geneva. "The negotiations have reached (a) critical, very sensitive situation, and it needs decisions at higher levels," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters in Geneva.
Two senior U.S. administration officials said that, under the potential deal, Iran would agree:
-- to stop enriching nuclear fuel to 20% purity;
-- to render unusable most of its existing stockpile of such fuel;
-- to agree not to use advanced IR-2 centrifuges, which can enrich nuclear fuel five times faster than older centrifuges;
-- not to activate a plutonium reactor at Arak.
In turn, the P5+1 would agree:
-- to unfreeze some Iranian assets held in banks overseas;
-- to consider easing sanctions banning trade in gold, precious metals and petrochemicals.
Other sweeteners were also under consideration, they said.
November 9, 2013
Western diplomats and Iran appear to be inching toward a breakthrough agreement that could slow the nation's suspected progress toward a nuclear bomb while easing some sanctions that have hobbled its economy. Top diplomats from the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany rushed to Geneva on Friday to see whether they could close the deal, which has emerged suddenly after years of frustrating stalemates and Western suspicions of Iranian cat-and-mouse games with international weapons inspectors. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov may join them on Saturday, Russia's state-run Ria Novosti news service reported. China's foreign minister is also headed to Geneva. "The negotiations have reached (a) critical, very sensitive situation, and it needs decisions at higher levels," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters in Geneva.
Two senior U.S. administration officials said that, under the potential deal, Iran would agree:
-- to stop enriching nuclear fuel to 20% purity;
-- to render unusable most of its existing stockpile of such fuel;
-- to agree not to use advanced IR-2 centrifuges, which can enrich nuclear fuel five times faster than older centrifuges;
-- not to activate a plutonium reactor at Arak.
In turn, the P5+1 would agree:
-- to unfreeze some Iranian assets held in banks overseas;
-- to consider easing sanctions banning trade in gold, precious metals and petrochemicals.
Other sweeteners were also under consideration, they said.
Perhaps some good news. Israeli PM Netanyahu strongly disagrees with such a deal. However, I believe that a phased mutual agreement with measurable benchmarks is vastly preferable to the dreary alternatives. In addition, such an agreement could possibly lead to broader discussion on other pressing ME problems such as Syria.
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