Progress in Nuclear Talks

-Reports show that this round of negotiations has taken steps forward.

-It seems that Iran and the US, as the main parties to this dispute, are more seriously discussing the proposed ideas to move past the deadlock and reach a comprehensive agreement.

-The focus of both sides on resolving the differences and the bilateral meetings and negotiations indicate that new developments have taken place in the negotiations.

-These developments are the results of Mr. Zarif’s initiative to visit some European countries.

-Mr. Zarif’s visit to Berlin, Brussels and Paris and his meetings with his European counterparts have been a new development in the trend of the nuclear negotiations. During the previous negotiations, Iran’s negotiating team usually remained in Vienna or Geneva and, if needed, other foreign ministers would join them.

-But this time Mr. Zarif decided to meet with his counterparts in these European cities and it seems that this initiative gave new life to the trend of negotiations.

-It should be mentioned that this decision was made in Geneva because there was no official report of these visits prior to the negotiations.

-This step also shows that progress was made in the meeting between Iran’s Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State which necessitated the transfer of the results to their European counterparts.

-The objectives behind Zarif and Kerry’s 15-minute walk in Geneva’s streets were certainly more than just getting some fresh air and a change of atmosphere.

-One of the possible objectives could be to impact the public opinion and prepare them for the reached agreement.

-They attempted to show that the remaining differences are not irresolvable and that the gaps can be bridged.

-Furthermore, there have been reports that President Obama has explicitly expressed his opposition to the adoption of new sanctions against Iran in his meeting with US senators.

-All these new developments could raise the hope that progress was made in the trend of negotiations and that both parties are moving forward in this process.

-Considering the signs of the past few days, I am very optimistic that Iran and the P5+1 will be able to reach an agreement before the deadline.