US Failed to Link Regional Issues to Iran Nuclear Talks: Analyst
VIENNA (Tasnim) – Iran did not let the US raise any talk of regional issues in the course of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, a commentator and analyst of Middle East geopolitics said.
In an interview with Tasnim in Vienna, Sharmine Narwani, a former senior associate at St. Antony's College, Oxford University, commented on the course of marathon nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
She said the Americans sought to link regional issues to the nuclear talks, but Iran did not let this happen.
According to Narwani, the US politicians are under pressure from a whole host of lobbies, which have thoroughly permeated the United States' decision-making system.
Thus, she noted, it would not be possible to rely only on the American representatives for making a decision.
But Iran has a much easier job to do, because Iranians are consistent in their approach, she added.
Narwani said in order for a long-awaited deal to be struck, Washington will need to have the necessary political will to go past a huge bureaucratic system that has institutionalized the sanctions regime and has introduced Iran as an enemy.
If the parties decide to seize the opportunity, one should expect a change in the attitudes and approaches this week, not in the details, she explained.
Narwani also noted that the most challenging stage following a possible final nuclear deal will be the simultaneous undertakings of the two sides that should happen in a step-by-step process.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as P5+1 or E3+3) have been negotiating over the past 22 months to end more than a decade of standoff over Tehran's civilian nuclear program once and for all.
The two sides are busy negotiating in the Austrian capital to clinch a lasting nuclear deal.
On Tuesday, the parties gave themselves an extra week beyond an end-June deadline to nail down details of the long-awaited accord.