VIENNA (Reuters) – The United States and long-time arch-foe Iran agree on at least one thing ahead of today’s negotiations on a long-term nuclear deal – reaching an agreement will be very difficult, if not impossible.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the man who has the final say on all matters of state in the Islamic Republic, declared again yesterday that talks between Tehran and six world powers “will not lead anywhere.”
Hours later a senior U.S. administration official also played down expectations, telling reporters in the Austrian capital that it will be a “complicated, difficult and lengthy process” and “probably as likely that we won’t get an agreement as it is that we will.”
Their remarks came on the eve of the first round of high-level negotiations since an interim deal was struck on Nov. 24 under which Tehran curbed some nuclear activities for six months in return for limited sanctions relief to allow time for a long-term agreement to be hammered out.
Despite his scepticism about the chances for a lasting deal with the West, Khamenei made clear Tehran was committed to continuing the negotiations between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
“What our officials started will continue. We will not renege. I have no opposition,” he told a crowd in the northern city of Tabriz yesterday to chants of “Death to America”.
If successful, the negotiations could help put an end to years of hostility between Iran and the West, ease the danger of a new war in the Middle East, and open up vast new possibilities for Western businesses.
During a decade of on-and-off negotiations with world powers, Iran has rejected allegations by Western countries that it is seeking a nuclear weapons capability. It says its nuclear work is for power generation and medical purposes.
