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US not sole partner in Iran talks: Analyst

Tuesday, 30 June 2015 5:55 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 30 June 2015 5:56 PM ]

US Secretary of State John Kerry - seen through a hotel chandelier - and his advisers sit with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and their counterparts on June 30, 2015, in Vienna, Austria. (US State Department photo)

The United States is not the sole partner in the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, an American political commentator says.

“The talks seem to have been extended for a few days on technical grounds,” Professor William Beeman told Press TV on Tuesday, just before the US State Department announced that the talks have been extended until July 7.

Iran and the P5+1 group -- Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – are negotiating in Vienna to work out a final agreement aimed at ending the longstanding Western dispute over the Islamic Republic’s civilian nuclear work.

“Here in the United States, the US Congress seems to believe that the United States is the sole partner in these discussions, [but] of course there are five other nations that are also involved,” Beeman said.

“And the final agreement is going to be reached in Vienna among the negotiators. So the United States, not even President Obama has any kind of a final say in what the agreement is going to look like,” he added.

“With regards to inspections, and also about the question of when the sanctions might be lifted, one needs to understand that the talks are taking place within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that is an extremely important point,” he noted.

“Iran is called upon to adopt the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he stated.

“In the United States, people don’t understand this, and they believe that the United States or the other nations will be able to enforce an inspection regime that would allow the United Nations’ inspectors to have access to anything, any place at anytime with no notice,” Beeman said.

“The additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is what is being discussed. This would not allow such an intrusive inspection,” the analyst pointed out.

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