Final Deal with Iran Depends on White House’s Flexibility

(FNA)- Flynt Leverett, a senior US political analyst, believes that all parties in talks between Iran and the world powers are waiting for the White House to show flexibility in the nuclear talks to reach a final agreement.

"If the White House gives the American negotiators the flexibility to make the changes in the US positions that are needed to get to an agreement, I think it would be possible to finish over the next couple of days. But I honestly don’t know if the White House is ready to do that," Leverett, a former senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. and a professor at the Pennsylvania State University School of International Affairs, told FNA on Monday.

Noting that the US has been trying to get Iran to accept a particular interpretation namely the USA interpretation of the Lausanne, he said, "The problem for the United States is that there actually is this statement that Mogherini and Dr. Zarif read in Lausanne. I mean Mogherini read it in English and Dr. Zarif read a version in Farsi and you know the text is what the P5+1 and Iran agreed together, all 7 parties. It’s what they agreed to release in the public at that point about where they were in the negotiations."

"And there were other things where works were still being done where they decided not to release everything. But they released this text and the problem is that the US has been taking public positions on some of these issues that I don’t think that they are compatible with that text," Leverett added.

Flynt Leverett served as a Middle East expert on George W. Bush’s National Security Council staff until the Iraq War and worked previously at the State Department and at the Central Intelligence Agency. His wife, Hillary Mann Leverett, was the NSC expert on Iran and – from 2001 to 2003 – was one of only a few U.S. diplomats authorized to negotiate with the Iranians over Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and Iraq. They are authors of Going to Tehran.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) are in the final phase of their last round of talks in Vienna to draft a final deal to end their over-a-decade-long nuclear standoff.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complained on Friday that change in the stances of the world powers and their excessive demands have prevented attainment of a nuclear deal, and called on the western powers to make up their minds and choose between striking a final deal and keeping the sanctions.

"We have reached a stage now that the other side should decide if it is seeking an agreement or pressure; we have said many times that agreement and pressure cannot come together and one of them should be chosen," Zarif told reporters in Vienna.

He reiterated that if the other side shows political will and inclination for a balanced and good deal it will be achievable.

Zarif, however, said that unfortunately the other side is showing change in stances and raising excessive demands which make the conditions difficult, adding, "We are doing our best as Supreme Leader (of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) and other Iranian officials have said many times we are looking for a good deal and we will continue the negotiations; we have never left the negotiations and we will not in future."

Late on Thursday night, diplomatic sources in Vienna cautioned that the western powers have toughened their stances after the US lost a self-imposed deadline for a deal with Iran and are raising even more demands from the Iranian team.

The source said the western parties to the talks with Iran, specially the US, have in the last few days raised excessive demands beyond earlier agreements, making the road to a draft final nuclear deal even more bumpy.

The source said Iran is determined to clinch a deal and it has shown much flexibility on this path, but the US-led West has been raising excessive demands and shows "fading respect for its earlier agreements with Iran".

"They have started psychological operations and are playing the blame game to make Iran surrender to their increasing demands or wait to be portrayed as the party to blame for the potential failure of the talks," the diplomat added.

The source also strongly rejected the allegations made by certain western media outlets that the Iranian team is referring the opposite sides' proposals or the draft text to Tehran to ask for permission, reiterating that "the Iranian team of negotiators have been vested with full authority to strike a deal on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the country's specified redlines, and does not need to refer anything to Tehran."

The diplomat strongly warned the western powers' approach in the last few days "is pushing the talks into a deadlock".

The Geneva interim deal envisaged the removal of all the UN and unilateral US and EU sanctions against Iran under a final comprehensive deal.

Also, in a framework agreement approved by the six powers and Iran in April known as the Lausanne Statement, the seven nations agreed that a final deal would include removal of all sanctions as well as a UN Security Council resolution which would call all the five UNSC sanctions resolutions imposed against Iran's nuclear activities as "null and void".

The first two UNSC resolutions boycotted export of military, specially missile, hardware and software to Iran, a sanction that - along with all the other embargoes imposed against Iran under the five UNSC resolutions - would be automatically removed under the new UNSC resolution that, according to the Lausanne framework agreement, should be issued on the same day that the final deal is endorsed.

Hence, the debate over the removal of the UN Security Council arms embargoes against Iran means US defiance of both agreements.