With a self-imposed Tuesday deadline looming for talks between Iran and the P5+1 nations—the U.S., U.K., China, France, Russia, and Germany—reports on the progress of the negotiations on Monday indicated that a framework agreement remains possible, but not a certainty.
“We are working late into the night and obviously into tomorrow,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in the Swiss town of Lausanne. “There is a little more light there today, but there are still some tricky issues. Everyone knows the meaning of tomorrow.”
According to the Guardian‘s foreign correspondent Julian Borger:
Reuters, however, reports that negotiators from all parties appeared increasingly pessimistic. “If we don’t have some type of framework agreement now, it will be difficult to explain why we would be able to have one by June 30,” one Western diplomat told the news agency.
The Associated Press reports:
Appearing on Democracy Now! on Monday, Trita Parsi, president of the National American Iranian Council, said the paradox of the ongoing negotiations in Switzerland continues to be the interplay between political brinksmanship on all sides coming up against what he believes is a true desire to reach a deal.
In general terms, Parsi argued, the Iranians have been “accepting the demands the U.S. has asked of them. What they have not accepted is what the U.S. is offering in turn.” However, he said, the Iranians—including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—actually do want an agreement to succeed. He explained:
And finally, independent journalist and historian Gareth Porter, in a recent analysis, explained why the scope of the sanctions relief plan could ultimately be the key aspect that makes or breaks the deal. According to Porter: