Less than two weeks before the deadline for the West to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, top nuclear experts as well as representatives from the P5+1 powers are expressing concerns that a comprehensive deal may not be reached by the November 24th deadline. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters Thursday that the parties still had “key questions” to resolve, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich warned that the powers may not be able to secure a deal with Tehran by November 24th:
“It is not completely ruled out that more time could be needed to reach a mutually beneficial compromise,” Lukashevich was quoted by Interfax news agency as telling reporters.
Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz, respectively a senior fellow and the executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, on Wednesday wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the deadline to reach an agreement with the Islamic republic “is approaching with dwindling hope for a deal in part because Iran has already gotten so much that it wants,” including among other things time limits on the restrictions to its nuclear program.
Also at issue is the degree to which Tehran will allow inspections of its facilities – reports surfaced this week that the Islamic republic denied entry to a member of a visiting IAEA delegation – thought to be an American bomb expert – on five occasions:
But its repeated failure to provide a visa to one specific IAEA expert may reinforce an impression in the West of a continuing reluctance by Tehran to fully answer allegations that it has worked on designing a nuclear-armed missile.
For the IAEA “to be able to address the outstanding issues effectively, it is important that any staff member … with the requisite expertise is able to participate in the agency’s technical activities in Iran,” the agency said in a confidential report to member states.
The IAEA’s role ahead of a deal is critical – The Weekly Standard described the Agency’s verification regime as “go[ing] to the very heart of any prospective deal” – inasmuch as officials from the UN watchdog need to know what nuclear work the Iranian military was involved in, alongside parallel civilian work, so they can ensure that Tehran halts all of its work per a future envisioned deal.
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