Officials: US-Iran agree on preliminary nuke deal but differ on how much can be disclosed. (AP).
Iran and and six world powers have agreed on the outlines of an understanding that would open the path to a final phase of nuclear negotiations but are in a dispute over how much to make public, officials told The Associated Press Thursday.
Pressured by congressional critics in the U.S. who threaten to impose new sanctions on Iran over what they say is a bad emerging deal, the Obama administration is demanding significant public disclosure of agreements and understandings reached at the current round. But the officials say Iran wants a minimum made public.
Iranian leaders are opposed to two agreements, saying previous two-stage negotiations were detrimental to their interests. They results reached in the Swiss city of Lausanne as less than a deal and more of an informal understanding.
The officials demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly.
The West demands that the Lausanne talks wind up with concrete commitments. But Iran has pushed back, demanding a general statement with few specifics.
That is politically unpalatable for the Obama administration, which must convince a hostile Congress that it has made progress in the talks so lawmakers do not enact new sanctions that could destroy the negotiations.
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 determine the president has been too conciliatory.
The initial response to the extensions from Republicans suggested they had already come to that conclusion. "It is clear, the negotiations are not going well," Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement. "At every step, the Iranians appear intent on retaining the capacity to achieve a nuclear weapon." Read the full story here.
Thanks! RT @SSWolfgard: @Jos_Douma @tparsi Link to live stream #IranTalks press conference: http://t.co/vdpCviO69z
— Jos Douma (@Jos_Douma) April 2, 2015
Following joint EU-Iran statement at 1:00 EST, Zarif to hold press conference, then Kerry http://t.co/4SRjw9mHTB
— Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) April 2, 2015
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