WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s willingness to extend Iranian nuclear talks at least twice this week has laid bare the dilemma he faces as he pursues a high-stakes accord.
Walking away from negotiations would strip Obama of a legacy-shaping deal, deeply complicate international efforts to stop Iran’s suspected pursuit of a bomb, and perhaps raise the specter of U.S. military action against Tehran’s nuclear installations. But by blowing through self-imposed deadlines, Obama risks further antagonizing lawmakers in both parties who are poised to take their own action to upend a deal if they feel the president has been too conciliatory to Tehran.
The initial response to the extensions from Republicans suggested they had already come to that conclusion.
“The longer the Obama administration stays at the negotiating table with Iran, the more concessions it makes,” said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines said the desire for successful negotiations “should not blind the Obama administration from the reality that only Iran is benefiting from the current approach.”
The original end-of-March benchmark was part of a two-pronged blueprint to bring the negotiations to a close. The U.S. and its partners – Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – aimed to reach a framework agreement on major issues by March, then finalize technical details by the end of June.
Obama was able to use the prospect of a March framework to keep Congress at bay. Earlier this year, skeptical Democrats agreed to put off supporting a new Iran sanctions bill while negotiators tried to hammer out a framework. While Republicans control the Senate, they would need support from some Democrats in order to override an Obama veto.
Obama has invested significant political capital in reaching a nuclear accord with Iran, straining the longstanding U.S. alliance with Israel, which views Iran as an existential threat, and putting congressional Democrats in a difficult spot. Faced with turmoil throughout the Middle East and a fierce conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a nuclear deal would be a much-needed bright spot for Obama in his presidency’s closing years.
The negotiations center on curtailing Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from biting international sanctions. The U.S. and much of the international community say Iran is pursuing a bomb, while Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
White House officials say Obama is willing to walk away from a bad deal but doesn’t want to be beholden to what they have called largely arbitrary deadlines. Officials insisted the extensions would end eventually if negotiators stopped making progress, but they’ve refused to specify how much longer Obama was willing to wait.
“This is not an open-ended commitment to talking that we’re willing to make here,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “The time has come for Iran to make some decisions, and we’re hopeful that they’ll do that.”
Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.
Iran nuke negotiations to continue
LAUSANNE, Switzerland – With even a vague outline of an Iran nuclear deal eluding their grasp, negotiators headed for double overtime Wednesday night in a marathon attempt to find common ground for a more important task forging a final deal by the end of June.
Iran and six world powers had cited progress in abandoning their March 31 deadline for the basic understanding that would prepare the ground for a new phase of negotiations on a substantive deal. But as differences persisted into late Wednesday, the State Department announced that Secretary of State John Kerry was postponing his departure and would remain until at least Thursday morning.
The talks the latest in more than a decade of diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear prowess will hit the weeklong mark on Thursday, with diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany scrambling to reach an accord with Iran.
“We continue to make progress but have not reached a political understanding,” spokeswoman Marie Harf said in announcing Kerry’s decision.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said negotiators were still facing a “tough struggle.”
A French diplomat said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was heading for Lausanne less than a day after he departed. Asked why, the diplomat referred a reporter to the minister’s comments earlier in the day when he said he would come back if there were chances for a deal.
