Q&A
Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright
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Source: Getty
In The Media
Iran’s Nuclear Program
The ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran face significant obstacles, including domestic politics in Iran and the opposition of the hardliners.
Published on Mar 31, 2015
Source: Charlie Rose
Speaking on Charlie Rose, Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour explained that in the ongoing nuclear negotiations, Iran feels confident that the United States wants the deal more and if there is an impasse, Iran will not be blamed for it. Instead, Netanyahu and the U.S. Congress are likely to be blamed.Still, he said, the negotiations are likely lead to “some type of a framework agreement,” but it will not be as concrete as some may hope for. While the negotiations are on technical issues, the result will come down to a political decision by Iran’s Supreme Leader. He added that it is an “economic no brainer” for Iran to sign the deal, but as the Supreme Leader has been saying for decades that American cannot be trusted, the deal will represent a political risk to the Iranian leadership.
Sadjadpour statated that the challenge in dealing with Iran “is that those Iranian officials who are accessible to us … are not powerful and those Iranian officials who are powerful are inaccessible to us.”
About the Author
Karim Sadjadpour
Senior Fellow, Middle East Program
Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.
- What’s Keeping the Iranian Regime in Power—for Now
- How Washington and Tehran Are Assessing Their Next StepsQ&A
Aaron David Miller, David Petraeus, Karim Sadjadpour
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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