Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (C), Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi and Hossein Fereydoon (R), brother and close aide to President Hassan Rouhani meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (not pictured) at a hotel in Vienna, Austria July 3, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
WNU Editor: AP is reporting that the main issue of when sanctions are to be lifted have been reached .... Tentative agreement on Iran sanctions relief (AP). Bloomberg is reporting that the UN is now saying that they can assess the military aspects of Iran's nuclear by year end (with Iranian cooperation) .... Iran Talks Breakthrough Seen as UN Expects End to Military Probe (Bloomberg). Reuters has more on this UN report.
Update #1: Iran talks in endgame, inching close to nuclear deal -- AFP
Update #2: Iran’s lead negotiator: ‘We have never been closer to a lasting outcome’ -- Washington Post
WNU Editor: Much of these discussions and the details that are being agreed upon are still secret .... and apparently will still be secret after it has been signed .... The Secret Side of the Iran Nuclear Deal (Eli Lake & Josh Rogin, Bloomberg). To say that this is astounding is an understatement. In all of my years of observing international agreements and diplomacy of this magnitude .... I have never seen anything like this in the U.S.. This is how the Soviet Union operated when it came to international agreements .... they never told the public what was agreed upon .... we were told to take their word for it, and that they knew what they were doing (yeah right). As to why the details of this soon to be signed Iranian nuclear agreement are going to be kept kept secret ... I suspect that Charles Krauthammer (who I usually disagree with) is right on this one .... the U.S. political establishment are not comfortable with publicizing the details because they know themselves that this is nothing to be proud of .... Iran nuclear deal: The worst agreement in US diplomatic history (Charles Krauthammer, The Telegraph).
The next step is to see what Israel and Saudi Arabia will do. For the moment .... Israel's options are limited, but if Saudi Arabia remains quiet and we then hear stories of nuclear agreements with Russia and an expansion of Saudi Arabia's nuclear research programs .... that is when you know that this Iranian nuclear deal is just laying the ground work for our worst nightmare .... nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.