'Close doesn't count': Mideast experts assess potential U.S.-Iran agreement

By — Amna Nawaz Amna Nawaz By — Dan Sagalyn Dan Sagalyn Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/close-doesnt-count-mideast-experts-assess-potential-u-s-iran-agreement Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio To discuss the motivations and potential outcomes of this latest attempt to end the war in Iran, Amna Nawaz spoke with Alan Eyre and Midad Maleki. Eyre was part of the Obama administration's negotiating team for the Iran nuclear deal and is now at the Middle East Institute. Maleki was born and raised in Iran and is now at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Amna Nawaz: Now to parse the statements, the motivations, and the potential outcomes of this latest attempt to end the war, we're again joined by two of our Iran watchers. Alan Eyre worked in the State Department and was a senior member of the Obama administration's negotiating team for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. He's now at the Middle East Institute. And Miad Maleki was born and raised in Iran. Until last year, he was the associate director for sanctioned Targeting in the U.S. Treasury Department with a focus on Iran. He's now a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. And welcome back to you both. Alan, I'll start with you. You heard Liz report Iran and the U.S. both saying they are close to an agreement. What one side says is in the deal is not what the other side is saying. And each blames the other for misrepresenting the deal. What is going on here, in your view? Alan Eyre: Again, we're close to a deal. We've been close to a deal many times, but close doesn't count; 85 percent is actually sort of terrifying, because the closer you get, the harder it is. But it does seem both sides want a deal. Both sides seem to realize that military escalation isn't really going to help either side. So, in terms of what the deal contains, I think we have to wait until it's out. But I'm fairly confident that the traditional red lines that Iran has posited will not be violated. They're not going to dismantle their nuclear program. They're not going to export all their HEU to the United States. So we'll just have to wait and see. But the most important fact is, it looks like there could well be an agreement to begin negotiations. And that would be great news. Amna Nawaz: Miad, what's your take on this? Alan says close doesn't count. Do you agree with that? Miad Maleki, The Foundation for Defense of Democracies: I do. I think here's the way that I'm looking at this. And I'm sure you all remember during the JCPOA negotiations that we were having the same issue, that Iranians were presenting a different version of what was being negotiated or discussed than what here in D.C. and in Washington and the U.S. we were tracking as far as the talks. Here are