This weekend in Muscat, US and Iranian diplomats held a fourth round of talks, continuing their efforts to find a way through an impasse that has bedevilled US-Iran relations since 1979. By all accounts, the negotiations so far have been a mixed bag. The overall picture remains slightly confused, particularly around the issue of uranium enrichment. Some hardliners in Tehran are getting cold feet, and old entrenched narratives on both sides of the divide are beginning to resurface as the going gets tough. Sources close to the talks have indicated that the US might agree to Iranian domestic uranium enrichment – either frozen state or limited – while, in return, Iran has shown willingness to accept a more rigorous verification process of its facilities. This is progress but of the brittle variety.
Only last week, we had Khamenei endorsing chants of ‘Death to America’ from the faithful at Tehran’s Friday prayers
The fear is that we are entering a rather predictable grind where reality bites and success recedes into the distance.
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