A political analyst warns against the serious repercussions of blocking a landmark deal between Iran and the six major powers on Tehran’s nuclear energy program, saying Washington will not torpedo the negotiations.
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“I think the Americans are not going to block this historic deal because we have too much to lose for Americans and for Iranians, too. So I say it’s going to go forward,” Franklin Lamb, international lawyer, told Press TV in an interview.
“They are not going to torpedo the talks, but they are going to keep up the kind of pressure that we saw last week until a final deal is done. It’s not going to get easier,” he added. Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, France, Britain, Russia, China - plus Germany wrapped up their latest round of their talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program in the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 9. Iran and the six countries agreed to meet again on May 13.
The two sides had reached an interim deal in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24, 2013. The deal took effect on January 20.
Lamb further criticized the discouraging US move to deny a visa to a very “experienced and respected” diplomat, Hamid Aboutalebi, Iran’s appointee for the position of ambassador to the UN.
“That action is the eighth effort by [US] Congress to put a monkey wrench in the progress that was made in the excitement of the possibility of normalizing relations between the Iranian government and the American government,” the commentator said.
He noted that the 1961 Vienna Convention is absolutely designed such measures by the Congress and the White House “to bar this gentleman accusing him of being involved with the events of 36 year ago when in fact he admits that later he was an interpreter.”
Under the 1947 Headquarters Agreement, the United States, as the host country of the UN, is required to allow access to the world body for foreign diplomats.
However, on April 11, the White House said it had announced to Iran and the UN that the US would not issue Aboutalebi a visa.
The White House is still reviewing the legislation, which must be signed by US President Barack Obama before taking effect. /SR
