WarSclerotic

Progress has been made, but much remains to be done after the second day of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany over Iran’s controversial nuclear program. The emerging interim deal is supposed to span six months, during which a long-term agreement will be negotiated to ensure Iran will not maintain the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

The White House has not publicly provided a figure, but congressional officials said Wednesday Iran could get $6 billion to $10 billion in sanctions relief over six months as a first step, with additional relief depending on progress made toward a final deal.

Jerusalem, however, is concerned that reducing sanctions as part of an interim deal will prevent Iran from negotiating a permanent agreement.

An unnamed official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entourage to Moscow said the interim deal might end up being the final deal.

In a meeting with the heads of Russia’s Jewish community, Netanyahu said, “The Iranians deny our past and repeat their commitment to wipe the State of Israel off the map. This reminds us of the dark regimes of the past that plotted against us first and then against all of humanity.”

“The real Iran is what the leader of Iran, Khamenei, said yesterday,” Netanyahu said. “He called Jews ‘rabid dogs’ and said that they were not human. The public responded to him with calls of ‘Death to America! Death to Israel!’ Doesn’t this sound familiar to you? This is the real Iran! We are not confused. They must not have nuclear weapons. And I promise you that they will not have nuclear weapons.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also addressed the Iranian issue, saying “the speech of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the true face of the Iranian regime.”

Homefront Defense Minister Gilad Erdan added that “it is a disgrace that these comments were not condemned by representatives from the United States or the European Union.”

Meanwhile in Geneva, a senior European official told Israel Hayom that the six powers offered an alternate interim deal as a “preliminary agreement of [mutual] understanding leading up to a final agreement,” in the event that a final deal is not in reach.

“This will contribute to an atmosphere of trust between the sides and will give momentum to the negotiations,” the official said. “We believe any type of deal will prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.”

The Iranians arrived in Geneva with new demands, requesting an additional clause emphasizing their right to enrich uranium as well as the rolling back of gold and banking sector sanctions. One of the key issues of the talks is when and how the six powers will recognize whether Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium for nuclear power purposes.

The demand to close the heavy-water plant in Arak also raised a division in the talks. The new Iranian demands are a reaction to the amendments added by the French delegation in the second round of talks and have forced the P5+1 to come up with creative solutions in order to advance negotiations.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday that France will “continue with the hard-line” position and will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb. Fabius said he believed the world powers were united in their stance on the issue.

Iran sets the pace

The Iranians for their part have not presented a united front. While Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was optimistic following his meetings with European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, his deputy Abbas Araqchi warned of a “lack of trust” between Iran and the six powers.

“The negotiations are not simple,” said an Iranian source close to the talks. “The Iranians are sticking to their request to enrich uranium.”

A reporter from the Gulf region said Thursday that the Americans have not yet understood how the Iranians negotiate. From the American perspective it’s about “give and take,” he said, but for the Iranians there is only “take and take.”

Despite the fact that sanctions are crippling the Iranian economy, the passing time allows for advancement of the nuclear program.

Ashton’s spokesman Michael Mann said that “at the end of this negotiation process, as I’ve said, what we need is for Iran to provide complete and utter reassurance to the international community about the purely peaceful nature of its nuclear program, and … the overall aim of this is that Iran, once it has done that and verified and proved the purely peaceful nature of its nuclear program, hopefully could be treated as any other member of the Nonproliferation Treaty, with the same rights but also the same obligations.”