Washington Perspectives

P5+1 Negotiations with Iran - June 16 Update

June 16, 2015

Scott Flicker, Hamilton Loeb, Charles Patrizia, Behnam Dayanim & Suhas Subramanyam

In her testimony today before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power insisted that Obama administration negotiators would (1) reject any deal that fails to ensure access to Iran military sites, (2) only agree to roll back sanctions in phases based on Iran meeting certain nuclear benchmarks, and  (3) ensure that multilateral sanctions can immediately snap back into place without Russian and Chinese support if Iran breaches any part of the deal.
Her remarks come a day after Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker expressed his alarm in a letter to President Obama yesterday over “breathtaking” concessions made by the Obama administration, specifically its failure to require Iran to disclose all of its previous weaponization efforts.  Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani assured reporters over the weekend that Iran has stuck to its red lines during negotiations, which include (1) lifting of all sanctions, (2) the annulment of the United Nations’ resolutions against Iran, and (3) the continuation of enrichment work as well as research and development activities.