An agreement by Tuesday’s deadline would have given the administration two days to submit it to Congress for a 30-day review period. Any submission after July 9 will double the review period (to account for the congressional summer recess) and give critics of an agreement more time to scrutinize the details and opponents more time to lobby lawmakers to reject it.
Kerry said he hoped for a fair and effective agreement and that “we can hold our heads high and show the world that countries can come together and make things happen. But we’re not there yet. I emphasize that. We have difficult issues still to resolve.”
Kerry’s Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in an English video statement on Friday that “despite some differences that remain, we have never been closer to a lasting outcome. But there is no guarantee.”
“Getting to ‘yes’ requires the courage to compromise, the self-confidence to be flexible, the maturity to be reasonable, the wisdom to set aside illusions, and the audacity to break old habits,” Zarif said.
Back in Tehran, some of the language being used was less diplomatic.
The semi-official Fars news agency slammed “neoconservatives, the Republican Party, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and their lobbies in Washington,” for opposing a deal.
“Aided by the media, the leading liars are doing everything to kill the agreement, demonizing Iran by lies, exaggerations, half-truths, innuendoes and insinuations.”
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his latest criticism of the West, charged over the weekend that Iran’s enemies impose sanctions not because of its nuclear program or human rights concerns but because they want to block Iran’s emergence as a leading opponent of Western hegemony.
(JNS, CNSNews, Jewish Press staff)