President Barack Obama said Saturday he believed the chances for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran are 50-50 or worse, yet defended diplomacy as the best way to prevent Tehran from acquiring atomic weapons.During a question-and-answer session with a pro-Israel audience, Obama said he wasn't naive about the odds for a successful final agreement between world powers and Iran next year, building on the recent six-month interim deal."If you ask me what is the likelihood that we're able to arrive at the end state ... I wouldn't say that it's more than 50-50," Obama said. "But we have to try."The president's remark was somewhat startling. Obama has tried to allay the fears of many Israelis and some Americans that his administration last month promised to ease economic pressure too much in return for too few Iranian concessions.
Where is this negative talk coming from so soon after this deal was done? Is Obama afraid of defending his own accomplishment? Really? You're so scared of Israel's reaction to the deal that you're willing to shit on your own success? That's retarded. Obama, defend your own deal. There is no reason to fear or be pessimistic about making peace. Israel is not a giant with an axe.
2. An excerpt from, "Saudi ex-spy chief says GCC must join P5+1, Iran talks" Voice of Russia, December 8:
Gulf Cooperation Council states must be part of the negotiations between major world powers and Iran, oil-rich Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief said on Sunday. Iran and major powers broke through a decade of gridlock on November 24 to agree an interim deal that would freeze parts of Iran's controversial nuclear programme while easing some of the crippling international sanctions against it.Newsflash GCC: you are a slave of America and Israel, so you are already well represented by the P5+1 crew. You're presence at the table is not needed. There are already too many chairs to count. Just continue pumping that oil and repeat the propaganda you're masters write for you.
Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, Shiite Iran's arch-foe across the Gulf, had cautiously welcomed the deal.
"I suggest that the negotiations on Iran not be limited to the P5+1" comprising the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany, Prince Turki al-Faisal said.
"The Gulf Cooperation Council must be involved," added the influential Saudi royal, who also served as ambassador in both the United States and Britain.
"Iran is in the Gulf and any military effort will affect us all, let alone the environmental impact" Tehran's uranium enrichment programme could have on the region, he said at the Manama Dialogue, a forum on Middle East security.
3. An excerpt from, "P5+1 turns focus to implementing Iran nuclear deal" by Laura Rozen, Al Monitor, December 5:
Western diplomats expressed confidence about Iran sticking to the terms of an interim nuclear accord signed in Geneva last month as they met to discuss implementing the agreement and the process going forward for negotiating an end statedeal .
The diplomatic consultations come ahead of a technical meeting between diplomats from Iran and six world powers in Vienna next week that will focus on implementing the November 24th accord.
“I think it will hold, because it’s in Iran’s interest for it to hold,” Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the PBS News Hour Wednesday (Dec. 4). “Iran is looking for some economic relief. There’s very little in this agreement, but it is the first step to a comprehensive agreement which will give them the economic relief they are looking for.”
“We are discussing 6 or 7 parameters that have to be crystallized into the common position of the P5+1,” a senior western official, speaking not for attribution, said Thursday, of the diplomatic consultations among the six world powers. The current priority is “implementation of the Nov. 24 agreement and deciding on a process.”
In terms of implementing the Phase 1 deal, “there are obvious facts to be confirmed by the [International Atomic Energy Agency] IAEA – stopping 20 percent, converting half the stockpile… enhanced monitoring,” the senior western official said.
