In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency (Tehran) on November 25, SPP Visiting Professor and International Crisis Group Vice President Jon Greenwald discussed prospects for the ongoing Iranian nuclear negotiations. Greenwald’s remarks responded to this week’s announcement of a seven-month extension for negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear agreement between the P5+1 (permanent UN Security Council members China, France, Russia, the UK, and the U.S. plus Germany) and Iran.
Greenwald remained moderately optimistic about the outcome of the talks, commenting, “The decision to extend last year's provisional agreement (‘Plan of Action’) for a further seven months is positive in that it shows both sides believe they have come too far and too close to a comprehensive agreement to give up the effort.” At the same time, he was disappointed that negotiators could not meet the November 24 deadline they had initially set themselves and that “the gap between the positions is still rather significant.”
Greenwald, who speaks on the negotiations to the Central European University community on Wednesday, December 3 at 5:30 pm, further discussed the impact of political developments in Washington and Tehran, including the recently elected Republican majority in the U.S. Congress and the Iranian Supreme Leader’s fatwa against weapons of mass destruction.
Read Professor Greenwald’s full interview (in Farsi) here.