What Obama Should Say About Iran in the Debate
By Robert Wright
http://www.theatlantic.com/Sunday's New York Times carried a story that will presumably come up in Monday's foreign policy debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney: The US and Iran have reportedly agreed "in principle" to have direct bilateral negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, negotiations that could start after the election if Obama wins it. If true, this is good news. Iran has long resisted direct talks with the US, and lots of people think this format would be more productive than the current cumbersome format known as "P5+1" (the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on one side of the table, Iran on the other). One reason Iran may have been reluctant to depart from the P5+1 format is that it includes Russia and China, which are relatively sympathetic to Tehran. Maybe, now that sanctions are starting to do serious damage to its economy, Iran figures it can't afford to hold out for the optimal deal and needs to cut to the chase. In any event, the new Iranian position reported by the Times is auspicious.
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