Posted on November 9, 2013 by Paul Mirengoff in Iran, La Belle France, Obama Foreign Policy

France stalls Obama’s capitulation to Iran

Intensive negotiations between Iran and the West over Iran’s nuclear program have failed to produce an agreement. The parties will try again on November 20.

Reports during the past few days had indicated that a deal was imminent. The deal would have eased sanctions against Iran considerably. In exchange, Iran would have promised to freeze parts of its nuclear program for six months. But it would not have halted all uranium enrichment during this period.

Why wasn’t the deal consummated? Apparently, because France didn’t sign off. According to the Washington Post:

Reports from inside the closed meetings and public statements by the foreign ministers throughout the day indicated that France had been most adamant in refusing to agree to the proposal.

“There are still some questions to be addressed,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said as he left the final meeting. . . .

Fabius also offered more pointed commentary:

Officials said that some of the strongest objections to the draft agreement that is the basis for the talks came from Fabius, who said the six nations should avoid falling for a “fool’s game” that was advantageous to Iran.

Fabius was particularly concerned about Israel’s security, which he said must be taken “fully into account.” In a telephone call on Friday, President Obama tried to reassure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he had called the draft “a very bad deal.”

(Emphasis added)

Netanyahu was unmoved by Obama’s assurances, and so was France:

Read more:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/20...ion-to-iran.php