US Secretary of State John Kerry provided an upbeat assessment of the marathon talks held in Geneva between the P5+1 countries and Iran on a nuclear agreement, saying the negotiators made “significant progress” and that “we are closer now, as we leave Geneva, than we were when we came.” A follow-up meeting is scheduled at the political directors level for Nov. 20. The negotiations deadlocked over French concerns about Iran’s Arak heavy water facility, as Laura Rozen reported for Al-Monitor from Geneva.

It's not surprising that given the complexity of the issues involved, and three decades of mistrust, that a deal was not reached in just the second round of nuclear negotiations since Hassan Rouhani became president of Iran on Aug. 4.

While the talks are moving with impressive speed, time is not on anyone’s side. The Obama administration understands the sensitivity of the current phase of talks. Kerry appealed to Congress and "others in the world" to "understand that you need to give diplomacy the chance to exhaust all the remedies available to it if you are ultimately going to exercise your ultimate option, which is the potential use of force ... We know the clock is ticking. That is part of what makes this urgent.”

The Obama administration has asked Congress to hold off on new sanctions on Iran.  The Senate will soon take up the National Defense Authorization bill, which is considered “must-pass” legislation. Senators opposed to a deal with Iran are expected to offer amendments to limit President Obama’s authority to waive sanctions or add more sanctions on Iran.