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Giving pause

Nuclear talks in Geneva with Iran ended without an agreement and will reconvene November 20.  The P5+1 (that’s US, UK, France, China, Russia+Germany) are mostly exuding confidence that an agreement can be reached.  The talks did not break down, they paused.  What blocked agreement?  Reuters reports:

Diplomats said the main stumbling blocks included the status of Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor of potential use in making bomb-grade plutonium, the fate of Iran’s stockpile of higher-enriched uranium – both acute issues for France – and the extent of relief from trade sanctions demanded by Tehran.

The first two are critical issues for the P5+1.  Their purpose is to prevent Iran from accumulating all the material (either highly enriched uranium or plutonium) it needs for a quick or undetected sprint to build nuclear weapons.  The third is Iran’s main concern.  It desperately needs sanctions relief for its battered economy.

Criticizing from the sidelines is Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, who wants Iran’s ability to produce plutonium and highly enriched uranium destroyed completely and sanctions lifted only when that ambition is fulfilled.  His hostility to an agreement that delivers anything less appears to have motivated France’s hard line in Geneva.  While the press is treating this intransigence as a surprise, French President Francois Hollande is on the record saying: Read more