The arbitrary deadline to come to an agreement with Iran is today.
But according to the Associated Press, that deadline might be extended to tomorrow, making this the third deadline extension.
They had set a deadline of Tuesday for a framework agreement, and later softened that wording to a framework understanding, between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.After intense negotiations, obstacles remained on uranium enrichment, where stockpiles of enriched uranium should be stored, limits on Iran’s nuclear research and development and the timing and scope of sanctions relief among other issues.The aim has been a joint statement is to be accompanied by additional documents that outline more detailed understandings, allowing the sides to claim enough progress has been made to merit a new round, officials said. Iran has not yet signed off on the documents, one official said, meaning any understanding remains unclear….The softening of the language from a framework “agreement” to a framework “understanding” appeared due in part to opposition to a two-stage agreement from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Earlier this year, he demanded only one deal that nails down specifics and does not permit the other side to “make things difficult” by giving it wiggle room on interpretations.
Any deal reached would only amount to a soft framework, and likely not be particularized in writing as we reported Friday.
In the absence of a written agreement, the Senate will have nothing to debate, despite longstanding bipartisan support.
Speaker Boehner indicated Saturday that pending the terms of Iran deal (if one is reached), Congress intends to move forward with sanctions.
Fox News reported:
House Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday he has “serious doubts” on whether the Obama administration and five other world powers can reach an agreement with Iran to curtail that country’s nuclear program and that Congress will move to impose new sanctions on Tehran if no deal is reached.“Let’s wait and see if there’s an agreement,” the Ohio Republican told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I have got serious doubts. I had serious doubts over the last year whether there could be an agreement, and I still have serious doubts.”Boehner suggested the major obstacle is that Iranian leaders cannot be trusted.“We have got a regime that’s never quite kept their word about anything,” he said. “I just don’t understand why we would sign an agreement with a group of people who, in my opinion, have no intention of keeping their word.”…Boehner said Congress would move “very quickly” to impose sanctions if the deal falls apart and argued that the United States should never have agreed to loosen existing sanctions because they are what brought Iran to the negotiating table.“We should have kept the sanctions in place, so that we could have gotten to a real agreement,” he said. “The sanctions are going to come, and they’re going to come quick.”
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