Update: here is the statement by Obama, not to be confused with the statement Netanyahu is about to make and which may be measured in the kilotons.
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In the same style as we have grown used to around the world, a major negotiation has ended with all sides claiming victory and no sides offering any actual solutions [16]. Iran proclaims the talks have made "significant progress," yet Western diplomats are saying progress is "limited," only to be confused even more by Iran's Foreign Minister stating that "but still we have not agreed on the reviewed solutions." So in summing it all up, a press conference will be held shortly to explain that 'they agree on the outline of a plan which will pave the way for an agreement but aren't sure how much of the plan or hypothetical agreement they want to share'. New normal geopolitics... no deal is the new deal.
[17]
Nuclear talks between the Iranian delegation and foreign ministers of the P5+1 group might bear fruit on Thursday, RT reports, [16] if the sides manage to agree certain solutions.
Western negotiators are saying progress is 'limited.'
However, Reuters cited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying: "We have made significant progress in the talks, but still we have not agreed on the reviewed solutions."
...
The meeting has been going on through the night between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart.
The German and French foreign ministers are also present, as well as the UK foreign secretary and European Union negotiator Helga Schmid.
The foreign ministers of China, Russia and France left the country on Tuesday after the initial deadline passed, saying they would return when necessary.
“We are a few meters from the finishing line, but it’s always the last meters that are the most difficult. We will try and cross them,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Switzerland on Wednesday night when he returned to negotiations.
AP sums it up perfectly... [18]
Iran and and six world powers have agreed on the outlines of an understanding that would open the path to a final phase of nuclear negotiations but are in a dispute over how much to make public, officials told AP.
Good heavens, this is embarrassing. RT @johntabin [19] lol http://t.co/FeGt3p1pvA [20] pic.twitter.com/U5w6im7Xmu [21]
— Curtis Kalin (@CurtisKalin) April 2, 2015 [22]
Got it?
So both sides are cornered by their domestic needs to save face and international reputations...
Pressured by congressional critics in the U.S. who threaten to impose new sanctions on Iran over what they say is a bad emerging deal, the Obama administration is demanding significant public disclosure of agreements and understandings reached at the current round. But the officials say Iran wants a minimum made public.
Iranian leaders are opposed to two agreements, saying previous two-stage negotiations were detrimental to their interests. They results reached in the Swiss city of Lausanne as less than a deal and more of an informal understanding.
The officials demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly.
They spoke after senior diplomats from the six countries negotiating with Iran huddled overnight in strategy sessions meant to advance the pace of agonizingly slow nuclear talks. Iran's foreign minister said the sides were close to a preliminary agreement, but not yet there.
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And then there's the Neocons...
"It is clear, the negotiations are not going well," Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a statement.
"At every step, the Iranians appear intent on retaining the capacity to achieve a nuclear weapon."
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Summing it all up... a process that started in February 2013 has now been extended yet again from another self-imposed deadline to June 30... Guess what happens next?
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Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian will report on the outcome and consequences of the latest round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program that concluded on March 31, 2015.
And here's the Press Conference (due to start at 1pm ET) where this will all be spun as somehow a victory...
John Kerry's Statement Live...
