Research and development has surfaced as a barrier to progress with only a week until the deadline to agree on the parameters of a final nuclear deal. If past performance is an indicator, pursuit of research and development (R&D) is likely to be a key domestic selling point of any comprehensive agreement for the Iranians. The pertinence of this stumbling block should not be underestimated.
Throughout his campaign in the run-up to his June 2013 election, President Hassan Rouhani defended heavily criticized policy decisions when he was chief negotiator in 2003-05 by pointing to parallel pursuit of scientific development. Specifically, he sought to sell Iran’s voluntary and temporary freeze on uranium enrichment by arguing that it allowed necessary time and space to master technologies that Iran lacked at the time, with specific reference to the Uranium Conversion Facility at Esfahan.
