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U.S. Will Ease Sanctions if Iran Halts Nuclear Program, Official Says

GENEVA — On the eve of a new round of talks between world powers and Iran, a senior Obama administration official said Wednesday that the United States was prepared to offer Iran limited relief from economic sanctions if Tehran agreed to halt its nuclear program temporarily and reversed part of it. The official said that the suspension of Iran’s nuclear efforts, perhaps for six months, would give negotiators time to pursue a comprehensive and far more challenging agreement. “Put simply, what we’re looking for now is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward for the first time in decades and that potentially rolls part of it back,” the official told reporters. The long-stymied talks with Iran were re-energized after Hassan Rouhani, the new Iranian president, took office in August and declared that he wanted to resolve longstanding concerns about […]

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US seeks ‘first step’ nuclear deal with Iran

Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iran ©AP The reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran The US is looking to negotiate a “first step” deal with Iran which would halt parts of its nuclear programme in return for modest suspension of sanctions, a senior US official said on Wednesday ahead of a crucial new round of talks . The initial agreement could last for six months and would “put time on the clock” in order to allow for a more detailed negotiation about Iran’s nuclear programme. The administration official also warned that any effort by the US Congress to impose new sanctions on Iran could scupper the negotiations. “For the first time, Iran appears to be committed to moving this negotiating process forward quickly,” the US official said. “We do not see them using the negotiating process to buy time.” US officials […]

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First-step Deal on Curbing Iran’s Nuclear Program Takes Shape

GENEVA—U.S. and Iranian officials said a confidence-building deal on curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities is within reach ahead of a new round of negotiations in Geneva starting Thursday. A senior U.S. official said weeks of detailed discussions between Iran, the U.S. and other world powers have shaped a “first-step” deal that could be forged this week. It would have Iran pause its nuclear program—probably for six months—in return for a suspension of some Western sanctions. The deal would put “additional time on the clock” for the two sides to pursue a comprehensive solution to the decadelong conflict over suspicions that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, the official said on Wednesday. “For the first time, we aren’t seeing them use this negotiating process simply to buy time,” the official said of Iran. “We are coming to understand each other in terms of what the equation would look like […]

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First-step Deal on Curbing Iran's Nuclear Program Takes Shape

GENEVA—U.S. and Iranian officials said a confidence-building deal on curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities is within reach ahead of a new round of negotiations in Geneva starting Thursday. A senior U.S. official said weeks of detailed discussions between Iran, the U.S. and other world powers have shaped a “first-step” deal that could be forged this week. It would have Iran pause its nuclear program—probably for six months—in return for a suspension of some Western sanctions. The deal would put “additional time on the clock” for the two sides to pursue a comprehensive solution to the decadelong conflict over suspicions that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, the official said on Wednesday. “For the first time, we aren’t seeing them use this negotiating process simply to buy time,” the official said of Iran. “We are coming to understand each other in terms of what the equation would look like […]

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U.S.-Iran Thaw Grew From Years Of Behind-the-Scenes Talks

WASHINGTON—The White House heralded President Barack Obama ‘s phone call with Iranian counterpart Hasan Rouhani earlier this fall as a foreign-policy milestone born of a rush of last-minute diplomacy. But the historic conversation was more intricately choreographed than previously disclosed. Top National Security Council officials began planting the seeds for such an exchange months earlier—holding a series of secret meetings and telephone calls and convening an assortment of Arab monarchs, Iranian exiles and former U.S. diplomats to clandestinely ferry messages between Washington and Tehran, according to current and former U.S., Middle Eastern and European officials briefed on the effort. Mr. Obama had empowered the administration’s top Iran specialist, Puneet Talwar, for some time to have direct meetings and phone conversations with Iranian Foreign Ministry officials, those people say. Some of the contacts took place in Oman’s ancient capital, Muscat, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say, which sits less than […]

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Iran Loses Nuclear Leverage as World Ignores Export Drop

Iran ’s new government, pressing for relief from oil sanctions that have squeezed as much as $5 billion from its monthly export revenue, enters nuclear talks today with limited economic leverage. Since the U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions on purchasers of Iranian oil in July 2012, higher production in the U.S. and Iraq and flat demand in Europe have more than offset the loss in world markets of more than 1 million barrels a day in Iranian exports. As U.S. consumers pay $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, almost a dime less than at the start of July 2012, Iran’s economy will contract 1.5 percent this year after shrinking 1.9 percent in 2012, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. “Right now, Iran needs to sell its oil far more than the rest of the world needs to buy it,” Trevor Houser , a partner at the Rhodium Group LLC, […]

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Iran says nuclear deal possible this week in Geneva talks

GENEVA (Reuters) – An agreement that would open the door to a resolution of the decade-long nuclear standoff between Iran and six world powers is possible this week if negotiators exert the maximum efforts, Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday. "If everyone tries their best we may have one," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after a breakfast meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "We expect serious negotiations. It’s possible," he said when asked if an agreement was conceivable at Thursday-Friday talks between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany. (Reporting by Fredrik Dahl, Justyna Pawlak, Louis Charbonneau)

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Iranian prosecutor killed in restive border region

AP Photo TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media say a state prosecutor has been killed in the restive southeast region near the Pakistani border, where an attack by militants less than two weeks ago killed 14 border guards. Sixteen “rebel” prisoners were later hanged there in reprisal. It was not immediately clear whether the latest killing was linked to the region’s unrest, which includes clashes with drug smugglers and battles with an armed faction that claims to fight on behalf of Iran’s Sunni minority. The semi-official Fars news agency says unknown attackers on Wednesday killed Mousa Nouri, a prosecutor in the town of Zabol near the Pakistan border. Another news agency, ISNA, quoted the region’s judiciary chief, Ebrahim Hamidi, as claiming the slaying was not connected to the October hangings. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. […]

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Iranian Minister Says Nuclear Deal Is Possible This Week

PARIS — Two days before negotiations resume in Geneva between Iran and the United States and other Western powers aimed at ending a fight over the disputed Iranian nuclear program, the country’s foreign minister sounded an optimistic note on Tuesday, saying a deal was possible as soon as this week. “I believe it is even possible to reach that agreement this week,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with France 24, a major television network here, before meeting with the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius. “But I can only talk for our side,” Mr. Zarif added. “I cannot talk for the other side.” Iran has been on an outreach mission since the June election of Hassan Rouhani, who appears to have made getting rid of painful economic sanctions a centerpiece of his policy. The country now appears willing both to discuss the enforcement of more comprehensive […]

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Diplomats Fail to Agree on Details for Syria Peace Talks

GENEVA — Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia and the United Nations failed on Tuesday to agree on a date for convening a long-awaited peace conference aimed at settling the Syria conflict, acknowledging it would not take place this month and possibly not this year. The diplomats adjourned after meetings in Geneva that could not resolve the most basic obstacles: which countries would attend such a conference, who would represent the fractious Syrian opposition and what role — if any — would be played by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whose polarizing effects have proved among the most difficult issues to overcome. Lakhdar Brahimi , the United Nations special envoy on Syria, told reporters: “We were hoping that we would be in a position to announce a date today. Unfortunately we are not.” He added, “We are still striving to see if we can have a conference before […]

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