Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

As the world powers and Iran seem to be very close to clinch a final deal, experts voice hope for the successful completion of the nuclear negotiations.

Alex Vatanka, an expert on Iran and senior fellow of the Jamestown Foundation believes that both the Iranians and Barack Obama’s administration have invested huge political capital in these negotiations.

“I don't think either side will sign a "bad" deal but it is hard for me to see these talks break down. Some kind of a deal will be reached. The question is will it be sustainable after the Obama administration leaves office. This is the big question,” Vatanka told AzerNews.

Currently, the world powers and Iran continue marathon nuclear talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna into the extended July 7 deadline.

After a long negotiations process, “serious differences” still exist between Iran and the P5+1 countries. Some experts are therefore skeptical over the successful resolution of the negotiations. The sides themselves also keep the option of returning home empty-handed in mind.

The failure of the talks is also possible because the current issues of disagreement are the last and the most important issues for both sides.

“In the event of a failure, I don't see the Obama administration taken any military action unless the Iranians move fast toward weaponizing which I doubt. They are very cautious and will not weaponize openly anytime soon. The big question is who will be blamed for a diplomatic failure. If Washington is blamed then keeping international sanctions in place will be much harder going forward and that is a win for Iran,” Vatanka said.

Though the P5+1 and Iran are determined to reach an agreement on decades-old nuclear dispute, Iranian officials also warned that the nuclear talks could collapse at any moment. Tehran expects an agreement that respects all of its ‘red lines.’ The Islamic Republic’s nuclear negotiators say they are ready to return empty-handed to Tehran.

The United States also doesn’t rule out leaving the negotiations, if the talks fail to yield desirable results.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said an Iranian nuclear agreement is possible this week if Iran makes the necessary "hard choices," but if not, the United States stands ready to walk away from the negotiations.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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