Iran May Be Lowering Expectations for Next Round of Nuclear Talks

WASHINGTON (Tribune Washington Bureau/MCT) —
Iranian protesters chant slogans during an anti-America rally in Tehran, Iran, Monday. Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets outside the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the biggest anti-America rally in years. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Iranian protesters chant slogans during an anti-America rally in Tehran, Iran, Monday. Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets outside the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the biggest anti-America rally in years. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Iranian officials appear to be trying to sharply lower expectations for the round of international nuclear negotiations set to begin Thursday in Geneva.

In an interview in a reformist newspaper, Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said he expects this week’s session will focus on the broad outline of negotiations, and that he doesn’t foresee the first concrete steps toward a deal for about three months.

“If both sides have goodwill, and if the seriousness and political will both sides have shown so far continues, then within three months we can get to the first step,” Aftab reported Araqchi as saying.

The prediction suggests a much slower timetable than Iranian officials described six weeks ago. At meetings at the U.N. in Sept., Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke of his hope for concluding the entire deal within three or six months.

The comments appear to reflect “seriously lower expectations,” said Ray Takeyh, an Iranian specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations.

At the negotiations, Iran will be facing the United States and five other world powers that want to limit Iran’s nuclear program, fearing it is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability. Iran claims its goals are non-military.

Takeyh said Zarif has also cautioned Iranians not to expect the quick lifting of Western economic penalties that they have been yearning for. He also noted that U.S. officials have recently asked Congress to delay new sanctions for 60 days, a hint that the Obama administration also expects a slower pace of talks.

But Takeyh added that Araqchi’s comments could be a tactical move in advance of the new meeting, which is the second in three weeks.

The U.S. and its Western allies are not likely to be pleased by a long period of preliminary discussions. They want Iran to quickly accept temporary curbs on its nuclear program, so that Tehran cannot keep making progress toward a nuclear capability while talks drag on.

Some analysts say they believe that Iran may have the capability to make a nuclear bomb by mid-2014, although the Obama administration does not believe that it is that close to the threshold.

With the negotiators set to meet Thursday, both sides appear to remain far apart on the terms of any deal.

Obama administration officials, in private talks with U.S. lawmakers, have insisted that they are not about to grant the substantial and immediate easing of sanctions that is the Iranian goal.

Iranian officials continue to talk about their “red lines” for a deal, which run counter to the demands of the six world powers negotiating with them. The Iranian officials say they won’t agree to halt all uranium enrichment, to ship their current stockpile of enriched uranium out of the country, or to close down their existing nuclear facilities.

In Washington and Tehran, hard-liners are pushing against any compromise.

In the U.S. Senate, key supporters of additional sanctions are pushing for work to begin next week on advancing a bill in the Banking Committee that would further reduce Iran’s ability to sell its oil abroad.

The administration’s effort to persuade pro-Israel groups to halt their lobbying for more sanctions has been only partly successful. Though some groups have agreed to accept a temporary pause, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said last weekend it will continue to urge more economic penalties.

Araqchi reportedly told Aftab that “if new sanctions are approved, definitely, the path of negotiations will be destroyed.”

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