US Considers Offering 'More for More' to Iran
Al-Monitor's Barbara Slavin and Laura Rozen have confirmed that the Obama administration is looking for a solid bilateral channel with Iran that will augment multilateral talks and enable the two sides to bargain without five other parties in the room.
A congressman from Ohio and a Shiite cleric from Mashhad, Iran, could well determine how successful President Barack Obama’s second term will be.
On the domestic front, Obama has six weeks to negotiate a “fiscal cliff” deal with House Speaker John Boehner to avert tax increases and spending cuts that could plunge the United States back into recession.
In foreign policy, the president has longer, probably five months, to defuse a crisis with Iran before that country becomes embroiled in its own presidential election “campaign” when, as was the case in the United States, major foreign policy initiatives are likely to be placed on hold. Here a deal must be struck with a man that Obama cannot invite to play golf or even talk to on the phone: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Al Monitor has confirmed that, with the US elections now over, the US administration is looking for a solid bilateral channel that will augment multilateral talks and enable the two sides to bargain without five other parties in the room.
