Negotiators beat back disinfo ahead of Iran nuclear talks
Ahead of the next round of P5+1 talks, US officials have denied claims that there is a secret nuclear agreement between the US and Iran and that the US has seen an Iranian proposal.
Iran has not yet shared with Brussels a preview of the nuclear proposal it is expected to present to six world powers in Geneva next week, a European Union official tells Al-Monitor.
Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday that sanctions may soon be lifted on Iran after the US and Iran have secretly made progress towards a nuclear deal. The report by the channel’s Middle East affairs analyst Ehud Ya’ari cited in part a Wall Street Journal report describing curbs in Iran’s nuclear work that Iran may propose.
“There is ‘more than a likelihood’ that the accelerated diplomatic contacts will produce a deal,” the Times of Israel cited the Israel Channel 2 TV report, “adding that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ‘will come in at a certain stage… and play an important role’” but “for now, though, it is the US and Iran that are doing the negotiating.”
But western officials tell Al-Monitor they have not received the proposal. Some US Iran watchers suggested some of the reports may be pushed by sources who may want to set expectations for the Iranian proposal unrealistically high and thus make whatever Iran presents next week look wanting.
