{"id":85,"date":"2015-03-25T10:16:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T10:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.20.30.45\/bayancenter\/en\/?p=85"},"modified":"2015-11-16T10:27:04","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T10:27:04","slug":"analysis-obamas-nowruz-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/2015\/03\/85\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Obama\u2019s Nowruz Message"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mark the Persian New Year of Nowruz, President Obama released a video greeting<\/a> to the Iranian people. \u201cFor decades, our nations have been separated by mistrust and fear,\u201d he\u00a0said. \u201cNow it is early spring. We have a chance\u2014a chance\u2014to make progress that will benefit our countries, and the world, for many years to come.\u201d The message was meant to encourage Iran\u2019s people to pressure their leaders and commit to a deal on the controversial nuclear energy program with the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If Iran\u2019s leaders make the right choices, Obama said, \u201ca nuclear deal now can help open the door to a brighter future for you\u2014the Iranian people, who, as heirs to a great civilization, have so much to give to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0By now, Secretary of State John Kerry has almost certainly spent more time with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif<\/a>, than with any other foreign minister in the world. Unofficial relations between the two countries seem closer today than they have been at any time since the 1979 revolution. The two sides met again several times this week in Lausanne, in an effort to address final sticking points. \u201cWe made a lot of progress,\u201d Kerry told reporters there. The talks have now been suspended because of the New Year\u2019s holiday, and will resume next Wednesday for a final two-day push.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The negotiating teams have developed a respectful working relationship, close enough to be displayed to the public during a time of mourning, After news reports announced the death of Sakineh Peivandi, the mother of the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, and of his brother Hossein Fereydoun, who is one of the negotiators, Kerry and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist who recently joined the American negotiating team, paid a condolence call on Fereydoun in Lausanne. In a press statement, Kerry said, \u201cWe share in their grief . . . and we keep their family in our thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0An Iranian news agency released several pictures of the visit. In one, Kerry and the President\u2019s brother are walking toward each other with open arms, about to embrace. Another showed Kerry, seated next to Fereydoun, reaching out to hold his arm. These images and others, which would have been considered treasonous in Tehran not long ago, were widely shared on social media.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Iranians have returned home for Nowruz and the funeral service. Funerals in the families of Iranian leaders usually involve both politics and public pageantry. Even bitter rivals show up to pay respects. The occasion will be an opportunity for President Rouhani to demonstrate his standing in Iran, and perhaps rally support for a deal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Serious obstacles remain, Obama noted in his video greeting. They are said to primarily concern Iran\u2019s nuclear research and development programs and the terms for lifting the punitive international sanctions imposed on Iran over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u00a0More troubling, the United States and France are split: France insists that Iran disclose all past military research and development activities that could be used to build a warhead to deliver a weapon and that sanctions be lifted in slower phases.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For eighteen months, the details of the talks\u2014between Iran and the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia\u2014remained closely held, with few leaks, despite deep disputes among members on other international issues, notably between the United States and Russia over Ukraine. But on Thursday the French Ambassador to Washington, G\u00e9rard Araud, spoke out unilaterally, signalling the breach. \u201cFrance has always been clear about the guarantees she considers necessary,\u201d he said. \u201cShe has already proven the firmness of her position.\u201d Kerry and his European counterparts are due to meet Saturday to try and sort out their differences.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, countered on Twitter, \u201cIranians have already made their choice: Engage with dignity. It\u2019s high time for the U.S. and its allies to choose: pressure or agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0A potential deal faces even bigger challenges down the road. In his video message, Obama said, \u201cThere are people, in both our countries and beyond, who oppose a diplomatic resolution. My message to you\u2014the people of Iran\u2014is that, together, we have to speak up for the future we seek.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Senators Bob Corker, a Republican, and Robert Menendez and Tim Kaine, both Democrats, introduced a bill this month that would require Obama to submit the text to Congress for review. More than three hundred House members sent a letter to the White House this week demanding that any permanent sanctions relief require new legislation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Senator Lindsey Graham warned Thursday that he would move to suspend U.S. funding of the United Nations if it moved to lift sanctions on Iran before receiving congressional approval. \u201cTwenty-two per cent of the funding for the United Nations comes from the American taxpayer, and I\u2019m in charge of that account,\u201d Graham said on Fox News. And two Republican House members, Peter Roskam and Lee Zeldin, asked colleagues to co-sign a letter to Obama threatening to cut off funding for the negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Near the end of his video message, Obama quoted the fourteenth-century Persian poet Hafez on the joys of a new season, and said, \u201cThis moment may not come again soon. I believe that our nations have an historic opportunity to resolve this issue peacefully\u2014an opportunity we should not miss.\u201d Getting an agreement from the Iranians may prove easier than winning approval in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Excerpts of this article are from that written by Robin Wright in the New Yorker.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To mark the Persian New Year of Nowruz, President Obama released a video greeting to the Iranian people. \u201cFor decades, our nations have been separated by mistrust and fear,\u201d he\u00a0said. \u201cNow it is early spring. We have a chance\u2014a chance\u2014to make progress that will benefit our countries, and the world, for many years to come.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":88,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,5],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-85","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinions","8":"category-foreign-policy-international-affairs","9":"tag-foreign-policy","10":"tag-obama","11":"tag-sajad"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/obama-best.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Y2nv-1n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bayancenter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}