Month: August 2015

LONDON—Sanctions against Iran could begin to be eased as early as next spring, Britain’s foreign secretary said Monday, the latest sign of thawing ties between Tehran and the West. During a two-day visit to Iran, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he expected preparatory business negotiations to take place well ahead of the formal lifting of sanctions. However, he added that the U.K. and Iran still have a fundamental disagreement on Syria. Mr. Hammond met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Monday. The foreign secretary had arrived in the Iranian capital a day earlier to attend the reopening of the British embassy there after nearly four years. Iran also formally reopened its embassy in London. The diplomatic moves follow a landmark nuclear agreement last month between Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers. Mr. Hammond also said Iran and the U.S. could endorse the deal by October. “We could […]

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Another tanker has left Iran’s floating storage fleet, the fourth to detach from one of two flotillas based in the Persian Gulf since Iran’s landmark nuclear deal July 14, Platts cFlow ship-tracking software shows. The National Iranian Tanker Company-owned Nancy had been observed anchored off Kharg Island for 135 days until August 19, when its transponder was shut off, making the ship "invisible" to vessel-tracking software. The 2.1 million-barrel vessel then reappeared briefly Sunday in the UAE’s Fujairah waiting zone — where ships often bunker prior to long journeys or conduct ship-to-ship transfers — before going invisible Monday, bound for an unknown destination, Platts cFlow data showed. Sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program are unlikely to be lifted before the end of the year. The UN’s nuclear watchdog is scheduled to deliver its final report on Iranian compliance with the July deal by December 15. Analysts at ESAI Energy […]

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International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano addresses a news conference after a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 8, 2015. The U.N. nuclear watchdog needs more money to carry out its role under a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, its chief Yukiya Amano said on Tuesday, putting the annual cost for the agency at 9.2 million euros ($10.63 million). The costs for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) verification and monitoring activities in Iran have so far been met through extra-budgetary contributions from member states, Amano said. He called on member states to provide the IAEA with the money it needed for its work in Iran and said the 800,000 euros per month it had already received would be exhausted by the end of next month. (Reporting By Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Janet Lawrence )

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PARIS — Given the sound, fury and millions of dollars swirling around the debate in Washington over the Iranian nuclear deal, the silence in Europe is striking. It’s particularly noticeable in Britain, France and Germany , which were among the seven countries that signed the deal on July 14. Here in France, which took the toughest stance during the last years of negotiation, the matter is settled, according to Camille Grand, director of the Strategic Research Foundation in Paris and an expert on nuclear nonproliferation. “In Europe, you don’t have a constituency against the deal,” he said. “In France, I can’t think of a single politician or member of the expert community who has spoken against it, including some of us who were critical during the negotiations.” Mr. Grand said the final agreement was better than he had expected. “I was surprised by the depth and the quality of […]

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Photo Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, endorsed the Iran nuclear accord on Sunday. Credit Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images WASHINGTON — With Senator Harry Reid ’s undiluted endorsement Sunday of the Iran nuclear accord, followed by Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan on Monday, supporters of the deal are closing in on the number they need to ensure it goes into force. But the ranks of undecided Democrats are still full of quirks and wild cards, from a freshman senator from Michigan whose closest aide has a pro-Israeli government bent to lawmakers inclined toward avoiding military conflict but from states where any position in support of President Obama is toxic. More vexing still, Democratic leaders worry that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, could allow a resolution of disapproval of the deal to be loaded with politically charged amendments, such as making it contingent on Iran ’s recognizing the […]

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As Congress prepares to vote on the Iran nuclear deal, the focus remains on what separates the Islamic republic from the United States , which, depending on your worldview is either a lot, or everything. The truth is that similarities, though perhaps few in number, do exist. Similar though contrasting religious convictions, a penchant for exceptionalism, and pistachios aside, water management stands to be a defining issue for both nations – and, truthfully, the world – as we approach mid-century. Water management in the United States is a historically dense – and increasingly dry – topic. In the early twentieth century, thousands of ill-conceived and wanton public works projects reclaimed vast swathes of the arid deserts dotting the west. The mega metropolises and industrial-scale agribusinesses that the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation wrought are the definition of Manifest Destiny, and at the very least unsustainable. That fact […]

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