🧵 New from me: ‘Unbearably slow’: scant progress at latest Iran deal talks in Vienna, as negotiators head back for another round diplomatic.substack.com/p/unbearably-s…
“Look, they have not been making much progress, honestly...it made very, very little progress. So it was unbearably slow.”
Iran leadership may not want rapid progress at Vienna talks to result in a potential boost for moderate candidates ahead of presidential elections in June. Timeline “is just not conducive to rapid diplomatic process.” diplomatic.substack.com/p/unbearably-s…
Vienna negotiations in an “unclear place,” Jake Sullivan said Friday.
“We have seen willingness of all sides, including the Iranians, to talk seriously... But it is still uncertain if this will culminate in a deal in Vienna in the coming weeks.” diplomatic.substack.com/p/unbearably-s…
“I think the onus is on Iran. I think they need to come up w/answers to some of the questions…& take into account that they have made irreversible progress on [centrifuge] R&D, & come up with more realistic demands in terms of sanctions relief.” diplomatic.substack.com/p/unbearably-s…
While Iran political timeline may inhibit rapid progress before June polls, the expiration of a deal with IAEA May 21 and June IAEA Board meeting could cause more tensions, adding to time pressure diplomatic.substack.com/p/unbearably-s…
“He stood out for his elegant clothes.” Many such brutal observations in this @yossi_melman piece about many in Mossad looking forward to the departure of what they see as the overly political and opportunistic Yossi Cohen, @haaretzcomhaaretz.com/israel-news/.p…
“When Netanyahu interviewed the candidates, he asked if they would be loyal to him personally. N. and Ben Barak were shocked, and replied that they were loyal to the country. Netanyahu announced the news of Cohen’s selection in a live broadcast.”
“But perhaps the culmination of Cohen’s problematic and baffling behavior took place when he reportedly flew in a private plane to the Dem. Rep. of the Congo to meet with former Pres. Joseph Kabila & the diamond magnate Dan Gertler. Gertler is under U.S. sanctions...” 👀
🧵 Giuliani advisors “have been pressing aides to former Pres. Trump to reach into a $250 million war chest to pay Giuliani for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election on Trump’s behalf.” 1/
“A person close to Giuliani...[said] the Trump campaign should be careful to ensure money in the war chest was spent in connection with the election effort because it was solicited from the public for that purpose.”
would guess Trump is not going to appreciate the veiled threats
just a bit of implied blackmail in some of these giuliani team arguments
third round of Iran talks in Vienna seems to have wrapped up. Russian perm rep to IAEA says a fourth round will convene at the end of next week. In the meantime, experts will continue drafting
He further suggests participants have given themselves an aspirational goal of seeing if they can reach an understanding in three weeks. (caution: almost all of these deadlines in jcpoa talks were blown through.)
“The search warrants executed...at Giuliani’s NYC apartment & office sought evidence related to Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine whom Giuliani pushed to oust...as well as communications with any U.S. government officials...re: the frmr amb or her position”
“The warrant also sought evidence related to 3 Giuliani associates who were arrested in 2019 on campaign-finance charges— Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman & David Correia—as well as 2 lawyers close to Giuliani, Victoria Toensing & Joseph diGenova; & conservative columnist John Solomon.”
👉🏼”Some of the Giuliani associates mentioned in the warrant entered into financial arrangements with some of the Ukrainian officials named.
In the spring of 2019, Toensing signed an agreement to represent Shokin...Toensing also signed contracts that spring to rep Lutsenko & Kulyk
State's Ned Price on Iran talks in Vienna: It is fair to say that we are not on the cusp of any breakthrough
Price adds: There has been a heavy focus on what US would do (if return for return deal reached). Think what is often omitted from that discussion is the other side...
What Iran would need to do to...
Price: Iran nuclear program has been galloping ahead since previous admin left nuclear deal in 2018. Iran in recent report has 10 times amount of enriched uranium permitted under the deal...breakout time was a full year when deal was in effect. now reportedly a matter of months.
“1 of the warrants for Giuliani’s devices indicated..federal investigators were searching for communications between him & several Ukrainian officials, inc. former pres. Petro Poroshenko, & 2 frmr prosecutors who had helped Giuliani collect info about the Bidens in Ukraine,”
“The investigative actions on Wednesday were expansive, with agents also serving a grand jury subpoena on Giuliani’s executive assistant, two people with knowledge of the matter said.”
FBI agents also executed a search warrant Wed. morning at home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to Giuliani who had dealings with several Ukrainians involved in the hunt for info on the Bidens, acc. to people with knowledge of that warrant. The warrant was for her cellphone.