What If the Iran Negotiations Drag On?

Now it seems there might not be an Iran deal after all. The Wall Street Journal reports: “International powers negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran failed to meet another deadline on Tuesday, the second missed target in a week, raising the prospect of an open-ended diplomatic process over an issue on which President Barack Obama has staked his foreign-policy record. . . . [W]ith negotiations making little headway, the White House on Tuesday laid the groundwork for . . . continuing talks while keeping in place a November 2013 interim agreement that provided Iran with limited sanctions relief in exchange for rolling back parts of its nuclear program.”

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Mark Dubowitz observes, “If the Obama administration can’t get a deal by the July 9th deadline, they may extend over the summer to try and get a deal after September 7th, in which case the congressional review period drops back to thirty days.” It is not yet clear a deal won’t be made, but it is easy to see why it is proving so difficult. Once we started doling out concession after concession, Iran learned there is no bottom line for the Americans, so it pursues new demands (e.g. lifting embargo on conventional weapons). Its negotiators may stop at some point, collect their chips and leave the table happy with an entirely one-sided deal, or Iran may perceive there is no upside to making a deal at all. Humiliating the U.S. president and persistent cheating on the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) may suit Iran’s present needs.

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Read the full article here.