Digests and Blog

A Critical Mass of Diplomatic Energy? Key players are meeting and gathering ahead for what may be a final, intense and continuous round of talks aimed at finalizing a comprehensive agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew to Luxemburg for talks with the German, French, and British diplomats and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday. After meeting with Zarif, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said that negotiations will go “up to the wire” but the parties aim to get a “durable” comprehensive nuclear agreement by June 30. Zarif returned to Tehran after the…

Vienna For the Long Haul Iran’s deputy foreign ministers and nuclear negotiators Abbas Araqchi and Madjid Takht Ravanchi returned to Vienna to continue talks on a comprehensive deal on Wednesday, and are likely to remain through the June 30 deadline. Political directors from the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) traveled to Vienna this week to continue negotiations on the final deal. Araqchi said the sides are making slow, but steady progress on the text. On Thursday, the Iranian team met with EU political director Helga Schmid and U.S.…

Vienna and Back Again Political directors for Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) met in Vienna on Friday to continue negotiations on the comprehensive nuclear deal. Iranian deputy foreign ministers and negotiators Abbas Araqchi and Madjid Takht Ravanchi flew back to Tehran after the meeting. They will likely return to Vienna on Wednesday. The following day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a national address that if the P5+1 is “committed to the current frameworks, respects Iran’s rights and national interest and stops asking…

Countdown: 18 Days Iran's deputy foreign ministers and nuclear negotiators Abbas Araqchi and Madjid Takht Ravanchi flew back to Vienna this week to meet with EU political director Helga Schmid. The Iranian team met with Schmid on June 10. Political directors from the P5+1 countries joined the talks today. A U.S. official told reporters on June 10 that the next few weeks of talks would be tough, but both sides remain focused on getting an agreement by June 30. The official also said that despite his broken leg, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry would join the negotiations when necessary.…

Slow But Steady Progress on Draft Deal Just three weeks remain before the June 30 deadline for Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement. Iran and the P5+1 met June 4 in Vienna at the political director level. Technical talks between the two sides on the annexes are ongoing.  Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister and negotiator Abbas Araqchi told Iranian news outlets on June 6 that the main text will be about 20 pages with five technical annexes totaling 40-50 pages. Araqchi said that the task of…

According to a June 3 joint statement by U.S. and Pakistan at the seventh round of the U.S.-Pakistan Security, Strategic Stability, and Nonproliferation (SSS&NP) Working Group, Pakistan reaffirmed its support for Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) related resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly, and confirmed the stance that Pakistan will not be the first nation in the region to conduct a nuclear test. To date, Pakistan has conducted two nuclear tests, on May 28 and May 30, 1998. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif later affirmed that the tests had been carried out in…

Another Round in Vienna Negotiators reconvened in Vienna today to continue work on the comprehensive nuclear agreement. The political directors from the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and Iran met on June 4, following a June 3 coordination meeting of the P5+1. Meetings between the technical experts from Iran and the P5+1 are also ongoing. This week's talks followed a May 30 meeting in Switzerland between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minster Mohammad Javad Zarif. The meeting, which included U.S. Energy Secretary…

  On July 27, 2015 the United Nations will host the first multilateral negotiations on the proposed code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities  (henceforth the code). The code seeks to set norms and shape behavior in outer space for the mutual benefit of all countries. It is voluntary, non-binding and open to all states. It is intended to enhance transparency and confidence building measures between countries. The code is not a treaty, and the United Nations Office for Space Affairs says that the code is intended to lay a foundation to increase the probability of space treaties in the future…

  Today, as part of the USA Freedom Act, the Senate passed language to implement key requirements of two important, and long overdue agreements that strengthen global efforts to prevent and counter nuclear terrorism, paving the way for their ratification. The two agreements —the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and the 2005 International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) – require state parties to better protect nuclear materials and to punish acts of nuclear terrorism. While the United States already…

The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff delivered an unusually clear and coherent speech on U.S. missile defense policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) May 19 in Washington.  Although Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr. emphasized in his remarks that U.S. missile defenses should be of no concern to Russia or China, it is easy to see how parts of his comprehensive presentation could be viewed from Moscow or Beijing as hypocritical, or at least deeply ironic. Not About Russia and China During his presentation, Winnefeld reiterated the long-standing position of the…