Deal Or No Deal?

Peace-makers? Bridge-builders? Only time will tell. Photo Source: AP.

An excerpt from, "Analysis: Iran Nuclear Talks — Where Things Stand" NBC News, June 28, 2015:

After years of marathon negotiations and several missed deadlines, crunch time has finally arrived for Iran's nuclear talks with the United States and five other world powers.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Sunday in Vienna with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, their third encounter since Saturday.

As gaps remained between all sides in the talks, Zarif planned to return to Tehran for 24 hours for consultations with Iran's leadership ahead of the June 30 deadline for a deal.

An enormous amount of ground already has been covered between Tehran and Washington, old foes who once referred to each other as "The Great Satan" and a member of "The Axis of Evil," respectively.

But despite this progress, there are still red lines to overcome before a deal can be struck.

America, Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany — known collectively as the P5+1 powers — want to ensure Iran cannot produce a nuclear weapon. They are asking for thorough inspections and written guarantees, resulting in harsh consequences if Iran does not hold up its side of the bargain.

In return, Iran wants an immediate end to the economic sanctions it says have crippled its economy. It also wants to rejoin the international community and lose its image as a global pariah.

The whole nuclear issue is a distraction, and an invented problem. It is not worth thinking about. The Ayatollahs are not motivated or interested in building a bomb. They're too clever for that. But that doesn't mean the U.S. and international community should award the regime with sanctions relief for proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not building a bomb.

Sanctions shouldn't be lifted on the Islamic Republic until it recognizes Israel's right to exist and stops sending weapons and money to terrorist groups in Gaza. Giving the Islamic Republic sanctions relief for not building a bomb is silly since it was not building one in the first place.

At this point in the heated negotiations between the P5+1 and the Islamic Republic there is no reason to be optimistic that a deal will get done. But even if a deal were to get done, it could unravel very quickly. Nothing is guaranteed. Israel and Saudi Arabia will seek to sabotage any deal as fast as possible. And with their anaconda-like grip on the U.S. and international media, they can spin the story in their favour in how ever way they want.