[Liberty Nation] The United States and Iran held their second round of nuclear weapons talks on Feb. 17. Early reports suggest that the negotiations, though brief, yielded some positive results. When adversaries meet to reach common ground, the first steps are confidence-building measures to create an atmosphere in which there is no confusion about each side’s position. However, there is a difference between establishing trust and simply stalling.
FORMIDABLE US FORCE IN THE REGION SHOULD CONCERN IRAN
The United States is adding a compelling dimension to the talks by positioning two carrier attack groups in the Gulf region: The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently there, and the USS Gerald R. Ford is en route, expected to arrive in two weeks. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board asked an important question: "Does Iran have two weeks to spare? Perhaps, as a second US aircraft-carrier strike group heads to the region. But on [Feb. 17], Axios reported that the US moved more than 50 F-35, F-22, and F-16 jet fighters to the region in the preceding 24 hours."
The Trump administration’s message is clear: "The US is not going to talk forever. Iran will bring the talks to a successful (’successful’ on US terms) conclusion or suffer devastating consequences." Whether that motivated Iran to be more accommodating is difficult to say, but, according to Reuters, "Iran and the United States reached an understanding on [Feb. 17] on main ’guiding principles’ in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said." A US official familiar with the discussions told NBC News that "progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss." Others called these comments too "vague" to be substantive and overly encouraging. |