Western hopes dwindle to save the nuclear deal

Western officials are weighing how to limit the progress of Tehran’s nuclear program amid fading hopes of reviving the nuclear deal nearly two months after the faltering Vienna track to bring Tehran and Washington back into mutual compliance with the 2015 deal.

Reuters reported that there is a growing belief among Western powers that it is too late to save the agreement, while the US administration says that Iran is only weeks away from obtaining the fissile material needed to make a single nuclear bomb.

“Reuters” yesterday quoted a source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, “They are not pulling the intravenous tube out of the patient’s arm…But there is not much expectation that there is a positive way forward.” Four Western diplomats said they had a similar feeling that efforts to revive the deal were about to collapse.

This came the day after a report by the Wall Street Journal said that the European coordinator of the Vienna talks, Enrique Mora, was seeking to visit Tehran in an attempt to persuade the Iranians to sign the final text in Vienna, without removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorism.

A senior US official warned the Iranians, saying: “If they are not willing to give up the out-of-context demands, continue to insist on removing the Revolutionary Guards from the terrorist list, and refuse to address our concerns that go beyond the nuclear deal plan, then we will reach a dead end that may not be bypassed.” The official added: “Is the deal dead? We don’t know yet, and frankly, we don’t think Iran knows either.”

“I don’t think anyone wants to say enough is enough,” said a Western diplomat. Will this situation continue indefinitely without either side acknowledging that it is over?… Probably yes.”

Iran refuses to abandon the demand to remove the Revolutionary Guards from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
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