Bomb Talks in Baghdad
The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, AKA The P-5+1, met in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Bagdad today in an effort to reach an agreement over access for verification of Iran's nuclear programs.
The delegation from the P5+1 is headed by EU's Catherine Ashton with Saeed Jalili leading the Iranian delegates. After the last meeting in April in Istanbul, Turkey, with officials describing the negotiations as "constructive", we've moved to the next phase of concrete steps.
Just yesterday, we got word from the IAEA's top egghead Director General Yukiya Amano, stating that the two sides had essentially settled their differences and were formalizing a plan that would ease the investigation of Iran’s past nuclear activities. This would effectively end the six-year standoff.
“I can say it will be signed quite soon,” Amano told reporters at the Vienna airport as he returned from Tehran. While there are still a few wrinkles to be ironed out, a “decision was made to conclude and sign the agreement,” he said.
Whoa, does this mean we got a deal on the table with all the other options to be considered? Will this news satisfy the Israelis and the United States' Congress? Will military engagement be averted? Will the US/Israeli Union ease some of the crippling sanctions in response to Tehran's overtures of compromise?
Or, will the war hawks undermine the process? Will the sabers continue to rattle? Will oil prices start to creep upwards again? Will Benjamin Netanyahu talk the Israelis into doing something stupid? Will the United States allow the Israelis to do something stupid?
These are the questions that'll keep inquiring minds busy over the next few news cycles. "Cautiously optimistic", "giving diplomacy a chance", "the clock is ticking", "time is running out" and of course that all inclusive "all options remain on the table" will be the murky language to describe this latest round of negotiations. Stay tuned... this issue will remain hot for quite awhile.
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