On this edition of Parallax Views, the National Iranian American Council’s Policy Director Ryan Costello joins me to discuss the latest talks between the U.S. and Iran in Vienna to get a new nuclear deal together. This was recorded on December 6th. The talks in Vienna were paused last Friday. As of this episode’s publication, December 9th, talks in Vienna are resuming. In this conversation we discuss the issue of sanctions, Secretary of State Biden’s blaming Iran for talk not getting off to the best start by claiming Iran is not taking said talks “seriously”, why the alternative to a new deal is horrible, the possibility of war with Iran, Israel and the Iran talks, Saudi Arabia and the Iran talks, the effect of U.S. sanctions on Iran, Trita Parsi’s analysis of the new Iran deal talks and the “Coma Option”, Iran and nuclear proliferation, Iran and the prospect of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, the weight of history on these talks and why they make diplomacy between both parties difficult, NIAC’s statement on the Vienna talks so far (which are now in their 7th round, why should Iran trust the U.S. with this deal if another Republican President in 4-8 years could renege on it?, Iran’s tough opening bid, Ebrahim Raisi’s administration and his predecessor Hassan Rouhani, the Iran hostage crisis and its effect on diplomacy, the 1953 coup’s effect on diplomacy, the effect of the Gen. Soleimani assassination on these talks, narrowing window of opportunity for the deal to be renewed, how you incentivize Iran to get back in the deal?, the challenges going into the continued talks today, the need for both Washington and Tehran to show greater flexibility in these talks, the U.S. rejoining the Paris Climate agreement vs. the attempt to revive the Iran deal, subterfuge the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Netanyahu’s pushing Trump to exit the deal, former Israeli officials and officials from the Gulf States saying a return to the deal would be a positive, Israel trying to apply pressure on the Biden administration, sanctions lifting/relief is key to the talks, U.S. lack of leverage in talks, and much more!
