Iran deal faces many hurdles

A purported leak is just the latest potential obstacle to Washington-Tehran rapprochement

Talks resumed in Vienna in the last week of April as the remaining signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) attempt to facilitate the US’ return to the 2015 agreement. But any sense of optimism from the US indirectly negotiating a framework under which it can return to the table was dented by a leak that raises concerns over Russian intentions, as well as affording a rare glimpse into Iranian policymaking. In a recording allegedly released by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, complains of the security force’s dominance of Iranian foreign policy and suggests Russia sought to undermine the JCPOA. In a three-hour re