Iran is building a basic mock-up of a US aircraft carrier in a shipyard on its Gulf coast with an aim of destroying it in a propaganda attack according to reports.
The nuclear talks between Iran and the US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany have begun in Vienna, with the international community looking for Iran to curtail its nuclear programme and stop pushing towards production of a nuclear weapon.
Iran has deployed warships to travel close to US territorial waters in a move to protest against the continued US naval presence in the Persian Gulf.
The nuclear deal reached between the United States and Iran represents both a breakthrough and a risk for Barack Obama. A breakthrough because it stalls Iran’s progress towards nuclear weapons capability for six months, in exchange for only moderate concessions on sanctions, while a bigger final settlement is haggled over. The very existence of such extended high-level negotiations, let alone ones concluding in agreement, marks a high for US-Iran diplomacy after 34 years alternating between fiery acrimony and deep freeze.
Signed by the P5 + Germany and mediated by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Baroness Catherine Ashton, the deal achieved with Iran on the latter’s nuclear programme has important implications for regional and international security dynamics that go well beyond nuclear weapons.