At six in the morning on Thursday, in Lausanne, Switzerland, after all-night talks, the US and Iran reached an agreement about restricting the latter’s ability to conduct nuclear research over the next two decades.
The White House revealed this bit of color on a conference call Thursday afternoon, painting a picture of the result of complex negotiations–delicate talks involving the constant relaying of messages between delegations and their capitals, it said, in remarks attributable to “Senior Administration Officials.”
It is a multilateral effort with a clear framework, the officials said, but an incomplete one that Congress should refrain from disrupting, with details of the agreement expected to be finalized by a June 30 deadline.
And there is no guarantee the deal will be completed. President Obama said Thursday that “nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to,” and, if the way forward is similar to the talks described on Thursday’s background call, minutiae will only be cemented through constant contact between diplomats and a range of each country’s executive agencies.
The legislative branch in the United States, however, is too keenly interested for the White House’s liking. One official called on congress to “give space” to negotiators, who thus far have managed to obtain significant concessions from the Iranians in exchange for the end of nuclear program-specific sanctions. If Congress disrupts negotiations, he said, the United States would get blamed for their collapse.
The White House especially took issue with legislation set to be advanced soon by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
The initiative, cosponsored by a bipartisan coalition of 21 senators, is aimed at subjecting the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to a 60-day congressional review.
Corker said Thursday afternoon in response to the deal’s emerging details that he is “confident of a strong vote on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act” on April 14, when his committee is scheduled to hold a mark-up on the bill.
The White House said, on the conference call, that it is reaching out to Corker for alternative constructive ways of engaging.
As The Sentinel reported on March 4, Corker has seen eye-to-eye with administration on one major issue that his Republican colleagues have used as a cudgel against the White House. When informed of the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl-Taliban prisoner swap in the summer of 2014, Corker reacted in a “very positive” manner, according to a State Department memo.
Certainly, on the other side of the aisle, the administration will be dealing with a less hostile ranking member, with diplomacy-skeptic Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) having this week relinquished the role, upon being formally indicted on federal corruption charges. Politically similar to Menendez in his breathlessly pro-Israel positions, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) will be the Democrats’ point person on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Iranian delegation, meanwhile, has its own domestic labyrinth to navigate, in selling the terms of the deal to its public and domestic power-players.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appeared unappreciative of the thought of additional pressure put on him by a document issued to journalists by the Obama administration. The four-page file lays out the “parameters” of the framework agreement.
“The solutions are good for all, as they stand. There is no need to spin using ‘fact sheets’ so early on,” Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif tweeted.
In their conference call, administration officials said it was only meant to provide context to the statements made earlier in the day by Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, with respect to details of the cessation of plutonium production at the Arak facility.
As detailed by the “parameters” and alluded to by the administration officials on background, the “quite significant” research and development restrictions agreed to by Tehran include a 15-year uranium enrichment moratorium at its Fordow facility, limits on research and development with advanced centrifuges “according to a schedule and parameters which have been agreed to” by Iran and the US and the five other permanent UN Security Council members, and a decade of restraints on enrichment capacity R&D “ensuring a breakout timeline of at least one year.”
The research restriction plan will be subject to review by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the administration’s “parameters” document noted.
