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U.S. and Iran Heading into Talks Worlds Apart

[Washington Post] Glenn Kessler and Thomas Erdbrink - The U.S. and Iran remain far apart on the substance and purpose of the upcoming negotiations, and President Obama and Iranian President Ahmadinejad will make dueling speeches to the UN on Wednesday. For the Americans, time is of the essence. Obama has set an informal deadline of year's end for assessing Iran's intentions before trying to turn up the pressure by seeking to bolster international sanctions. But the administration also wants to demonstrate that it tried every diplomatic avenue, hoping that will convince skeptics of sanctions, such as Russia, that it has demonstrated flexibility in dealing with Tehran. For the Iranians, time needs to be dragged out. The Iranian government has made huge strides in its nuclear program while talks have dragged on, intermittently, since 2003. While the Iranians have stood still, the other parties have increasingly sweetened their offers. U.S. officials want to narrow discussion to nuclear weapons, but Iranians want to broaden the topics to issues such as drug trade, terrorism and regional security.
2009-09-22 08:00:00
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