Iran Talks Nearly Done, Negotiators Rule Out Extension

As the P5+1 and Iran resumed ministerial-level talks this morning in Vienna, negotiators said that they hoped to have a final nuclear deal today or tomorrow. “No one is thinking of another extension,” an Iranian diplomat said on Twitter, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told press, “We believe there could not be further delay.” Two issues remain, according to the Associated Press: whether and how a U.N. arms embargo against Iran will be lifted, and whether the deal will discuss Iran’s nuclear activities in terms that describe them as illegal. These last issues are the only outstanding disagreements in what is reportedly now an 80-page agreement (or 100 pages in Farsi) that is awaiting final vetting by lawyers.

Separately, the trial of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian resumes today for a third session in Iran. Rezaian has been held by the Iranian government for almost a year and is accused of espionage and writing propaganda against Iran.

Libyan Political Leaders Sign Peace Deal

Many Libyan political leaders signed a power-sharing agreement in Rabat, Morocco, on Saturday, concluding U.N. backed peace talks. The deal is supported by the internationally-recognized Tobruk government in Libya, but could be undermined by the rival government in Tripoli, which did not participate in the negotiations.

Headlines

• At least 35 people were killed on Sunday in a series of three car bombings targeting Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad.

• Despite a U.N.-negotiated ceasefire that was supposed to take effect on Friday, Saudi airstrikes and clashes between Houthis and pro-government forces have persisted in Yemen.

• The United States is reportedly in talks with North African countries about basing U.S. drones to surveil Islamic State activity in Libya.

• An explosion on Sunday destroyed part of the 13th-Century citadel in Aleppo; the civil war has destroyed nearly 60 percent of the old city.

• In a further extension of executive power, Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh al-Sisi issued decree on Saturday allowing him to dismiss officials at independent state institutions.

Arguments and Analysis

“The Iran deal and the Prague Agenda” (Norman Eisen, Markaz)

“Now, with the possible Iran deal, progress under the Prague Agenda’s final prong is in reach: holding to account a state which had violated its nuclear obligations under international treaties. I am not of the school that believes the president needs to secure an Iran deal to build his legacy. That was never the case; having known him for almost a quarter of a century, since we were law students together, and having worked for him for six years, first in the White House and then as ambassador, I can attest that those kinds of considerations do not enter into critical decisions like this one. Even the president’s strongest critics have to admit that legacy is, as a matter of logic, much less of a consideration after the recent breakthroughs on the Affordable Care Act and on Trade Promotion Authority.”

“The deadly consequences of mislabeling Syria’s revolutionaries” (Labib Al Nahhas, Washington Post)

“The moral case against Assad should have been enough to discount him as an option, but now the facts of war have made it clear that he is finished. The only remaining question is who will deliver the coup de grace: the Islamic State or the Syrian opposition. That question should prompt Washington to admit that the Islamic State’s extremist ideology can be defeated only through a homegrown Sunni alternative — with the term “moderate” defined not by CIA handlers but by Syrians themselves.”

-J. Dana Stuster

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