With nuclear negotiations between Iran and the ‘P5 plus 1’ group of world powers resuming this week, analysts following the talks say the political will among the parties to sign a final framework for a détente has - for the time being - remained, al jazeera reported .
Moving forward, the challenge lies in how to reconcile the differences in perceptions and expectations between Iran and the ‘P5 plus 1’ - the United States, France, Russia, Britain, China and Germany - in order to arrive at a nuclear agreement that negotiators can present to critics, especially in Washington and Tehran, without looking weak back at home.
Observers say the fundamental disagreements that halted the positive momentum of the most recent negotiations weren’t simply over straight “numbers,” such as the number of centrifuges Iran will finally have or the final length of time allowed for a “breakout,” which is the time Iran would need to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb.
Such sticking points are considered a normal part of the negotiations and are ultimately resolvable, says veteran diplomat Roberto Toscano, who served as Italy’s ambassador to Iran from 2003 to 2008.
From Tehran’s standpoint, the major obstacles leading to the failure of the Vienne talks, which concluded with a seven-month extension, were ostensibly the same as they were going in.
Namely, how substantial - and how permanent - will sanctions relief actually be if Iran substantially reduces its uranium enrichment programme and yields to years of unprecedentedly intrusive nuclear inspections.
