(IRAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER) ARAGHCHI SAYS DEAL WAS 'INCHES AWAY'
The U.S. and Iran were close to a deal in Islamabad when the Americans shifted the goalposts and walked away, said Iran’s foreign minister.
Iran’s foreign minister said Sunday that the Trump administration’s representatives derailed marathon talks in Pakistan’s capital with maximalist demands, just as the two sides were “inches away” from a preliminary agreement to end the six-week conflict.
-“In intensive talks at the highest level in 47 years, Iran engaged with U.S. in good faith to end war,” Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media.
-“But when just inches away from ‘Islamabad [Memorandum of Understanding],’ we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade. Zero lessons earned. Good will begets good will. Enmity begets enmity,” he wrote.
-The failed weekend talks marked the second time since February that U.S. negotiators have been accused of sabotaging formal negotiations despite participants believing a deal was within reach.
-Oman’s foreign minister, who mediated previous talks, said hours before the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran on Feb. 28 that “we have already achieved quite a substantial progress in the direction of a deal.”
SEE: Araghchi Says Deal Was ‘Inches Away’ – Consortium News