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NYT:
"After three days of intensive talks with his Iranian counterpart,
Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that 'tangible progress' had
been made in negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, and that he would
return to Washington to consult with President Obama over whether to
extend a Sunday deadline for a final agreement. Mr. Kerry said that
'very real gaps' remained, but his tone - and his acknowledgment that
Iran had complied with all of its commitments under a temporary
agreement that took effect in January - left little doubt he wanted to
extend the talks by weeks or months. 'That's where we're headed, I
think,' one of his top advisers said. At his own news conference,
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, embraced the idea of
extending talks beyond the deadline. 'As we stand now, we have made
enough headway to be able to tell our political bosses that this is a
process worth continuing,' he said. 'This is my recommendation. I am
sure Secretary Kerry will make the same recommendation.' ... Mr. Kerry
declined to comment on the proposal that Mr. Zarif outlined in an
interview with The New York Times for what would amount to an extension
of the current short-term agreement for a number of years. Gary Samore,
a former senior official on the staff of Mr. Obama's National Security
Council, and president of an advocacy group called United Against
Nuclear Iran, said that Mr. Zarif's proposal was 'not enough for a deal
but enough for an extension of the negotiations.' Olli Heinonen, the
former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the
United Nations nuclear monitor, said in an interview that Mr. Zarif's
proposal would not add to the time Iran would need to break out of an
accord and produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. 'What
Zarif suggests is actually to maintain a status quo,' Mr. Heinonen
said. 'Thus I do not see that this proposal opens any avenues for a
deal.'" http://t.uani.com/1wuCett
AFP:
"An extension of Sunday's deadline to strike a nuclear deal
between Iran and world powers is now 'highly probable,' and by months
not weeks, a Western diplomat said Tuesday. 'As it's highly improbable
that we will finalise in Vienna before the weekend, it is highly
probable that there will be a wish to continue to negotiate in the
coming months,' the diplomat said on condition of anonymity on the
sidelines of talks in Vienna. Just extending 'by weeks doesn't make
much sense,' the envoy said. 'It is soon August ... There will have to
be a break.' He added that following two days of intensive talks
between US Secretary of State John Kerry -- who has now left Vienna --
and his Iranian counterpart, all focus was now on the terms of the
extension. This could even be agreed before the weekend, he said. 'We
hope to have left here before (the weekend)... since we are talking
about a rollover.'" http://t.uani.com/1jxrOIR
The Hill:
"The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday
said the Obama administration should begin preparing additional
sanctions on Iran as the deadline for a deal on the country's nuclear
program draws closer. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said Secretary of State
John Kerry's remarks Tuesday on the ongoing nuclear negotiations with
Iran signal it is time to begin preparing sanctions as an interim
agreement is set to expire Sunday. 'In light of Secretary Kerry's
comments today in Vienna that very real gaps remain between Iran and
the international community, my hope is that the administration will
finally engage in robust discussions with Congress about preparing
additional sanctions against Iran,' he said in a statement... Royce
signaled an extension would not yield results, saying 'Iran's Supreme
Leader has made clear that Iran will not agree to dismantle its nuclear
weapons program. In fact, he seeks to expand it.'" http://t.uani.com/1nanlgi
Nuclear
Program & Negotiations
The Hill:
"Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez
(N.J.) is wary about giving Secretary of State John Kerry more time to
reach a nuclear deal with Iran. Menendez, a sharp critic of Iran, could
present a problem for the Obama administration, which has strongly
hinted it will seek more time to negotiate. 'If they're not close, I'm
not for extending for extension's sake,' he said. 'From all reports,
they're certainly not close to the standards that I think a majority of
the Congress wants. 'We want an agreement but it has to be a good
agreement, not an agreement for agreement's sake,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1snWiQA
Al-Monitor:
"Congressional Republicans aren't waiting for the smoke signals
out of Vienna to declare the Iran nuclear talks a failure... 'July 20
was the date that they set,' Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told
Al-Monitor. 'So unless there's some overwhelming reason not to, I think
the sanctions that have been relaxed ought to be reimposed.' McCain
that he'd be 'very supportive' of new sanctions as well. 'The sanctions
were working, and I believe we should immediately reinstate the full
sanctions regime that existed before the interim agreement and consider
additional sanctions as well,' Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., ranking
member on the Armed Services panel, said in a statement. Sen. Mark
Kirk, R-Ill., said he expected support to build for the sanctions bill
he introduced in December with Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., as well as more recent human-rights
legislation he wrote with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. That first bill has
been backed by 60 of 100 senators but Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, D-Nev., has stopped it from coming up on the floor... Sen.
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Al-Monitor that he planned to introduce
legislation soon requiring a deal to come to Congress for approval. The
proposal mirrors similar legislation introduced in the House by Rep.
Trent Franks, R-Ariz." http://t.uani.com/1rqO1sv
Sanctions
Relief
Tehran Times:
"Iran has prepared a comprehensive plan to increase its trade with
the United Arab Emirates significantly, the deputy director of the
Trade Promotion Organization of Iran stated. 'The comprehensive plan
will raise the trade between the two countries significantly,' the Mehr
news agency quoted TOPI official Aboutaleb Badri as saying on Monday...
The UAE was the 2nd biggest trading partner of Iran in the previous
Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, according to the
Iran Customs Administration. Iran exported $3.62 billion worth of
non-oil goods to the UAE and imported $11.85 billion worth of non-oil
goods from the Persian Gulf state. On June 1, a trade delegation
consisting of the ministers of agriculture and infrastructure, the
heads of the chambers of commerce of the seven Emirates in the UAE and
their accompanying business representatives visited Iran." http://t.uani.com/1p88VKk
Foreign
Affairs
Bloomberg:
"The grainy footage taken by an Israeli warplane shows an alleged
Hamas-run drone facility in the Gaza Strip. Within seconds, the
building explodes in a ball of smoke. Israel's justification for the
attack came hours earlier, when a Patriot missile intercepted a drone
as it approached the coast and blew it to pieces... It was the first
time a Hamas drone breached Israeli airspace, military spokesman
Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said... In Gaza, leaflets boasted of
dozens of drones being built in the strip, some for spying, others for
firing missiles or 'suicide missions.' Hamas calls its drones Ababil, a
reference to a flock of birds mentioned in the Koran that protected the
holy city of Mecca from Abyssinian invaders by dropping clay bricks on
their army of elephants. Ababil is also the name Iran uses for some of
its drones, and Israel suspects Iranian involvement in Hamas's program.
'All the technology they have is Iranian-based so if they developed it
locally or imported pieces, it is all from Iranian knowledge and
technology,' Lerner said." http://t.uani.com/U9Njn5
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