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Diplomats seeking to limit Iran's nuclear program have long said they wouldn't keep bargaining if officials in Tehran proved unwilling to budge. But after a year of frazzling negotiations and two missed deadlines, the diplomats have done just that.

Six world powers and Iran failed to meet the latest cutoff date, Nov. 24, for a comprehensive deal and instead extended negotiations for seven months. Diplomats who had gathered in Vienna said that new ideas were raised in the final hours of talks that merited study and that they justified setting yet another deadline.

"We would be fools to walk away," Secretary of State John F. Kerry told reporters.

Although deep divisions remain on core issues, diplomats fear a complete breakdown in talks would raise risks for all sides: advances in Iran's nuclear program, a greater danger of war, or new U.S. and European sanctions that could further batter the Iranian economy.

World powers have been trying since 2003 to negotiate curbs on Iran's uranium enrichment program. Iran insists the program is for energy and other civilian purposes, but Western governments believe that Tehran is seeking bomb-making capability and thus poses a threat to world security.

The deal being sought would involve a basic trade-off: The world powers would ease U.S., European and United Nations economic sanctions on Iran if it agreed to restrictions aimed at preventing it from building a nuclear bomb.

Iran and the six powers the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have been negotiating under the terms of an interim agreement worked out in November 2013. The so-called joint plan of action gave Iran limited relief from sanctions in exchange for a halt to some of its most worrisome nuclear activities.

Over the course of the year, negotiators made headway in several areas.

Iran agreed to stop adding centrifuges, the machines that can enrich uranium to convert it to bomb fuel. It also agreed to stop enriching uranium to a 20% purity, which is close to the grade at which it can be used for bomb fuel.

Iranian officials also promised to redesign a partially built heavy-water research reactor at Arak to reduce its output of plutonium, another potential bomb fuel. They agreed to more intrusive monitoring of nuclear facilities by U.N. inspectors and said they would convert a bomb-resistant underground enrichment facility at Fordow into a research site.

Continued here:
Iran nuclear talks: What's at stake and what's happened so far

Iran expects oil prices at five-year lows will put short-term pressure on the governments budget even as it strives to contain inflation, President Hassan Rouhani said.

Crude prices have declined about 40 percent from a June peak amid overproduction and slower demand growth. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on Nov. 27 to maintain its production target, prompting a drop in European benchmark Brent crude to less than $70 a barrel for the first time since May 2010.

The price of Brent has fallen from $110 to less than $70, a decline little before seen, Rouhani said yesterday in a speech to the countrys parliament in Tehran, according to the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency. Its necessary for next years budget to be adjusted with caution.

The plunge in crude comes as international sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program are already curtailing crude exports, the Persian Gulf nations main income source. Iran agreed last month to extend negotiations intended to limit its nuclear work in return for an end to sanctions, which constrain the countrys exports to about 1 million barrels a day. The new deadline for the talks is July 1.

It looks very, very tough, said Robin Mills of Manaar Energy Consulting. Even after sanction are lifted, we still might be in for a couple more years of lower oil prices. Theyve got to plan for the long haul, said Mills, who worked in Iran as a geologist for Royal Dutch Shell Plc in the 1990s before heading Dubai-based Manaars consulting business.

The countrys new budget will cover the Iranian calendar year beginning March 21, 2015. Iran will need to rely on non-oil exports for growth and its inflation rate will slow to less than 20 percent by March 2015, Rouhani said, according to the ISNA report. Inflation slowed to 23 percent in the 12 months ending Aug. 22, according to data from the nations central bank.

The $311 billion spending plan represents a 4.3 percent increase over this years budget, the oil ministrys news agency Shana reported on its website. Iran is basing next years budget on an average oil price of $72 a barrel, Rouhani said yesterday, according to state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Crude shows signs of further decline over the days ahead, Mohsen Qamsari, director for international affairs at state-run National Iranian Oil Co., said in an interview with Shana. He declined to give a price forecast, according to the report today.

Oil may continue to trade at about $65 a barrel for the next six months, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Chief Executive Officer Nizar Al-Adsani said today at a conference in Kuwait City.

European benchmark Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate both closed at the lowest per-barrel price in five years on Dec. 5, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Brent extended its decline today, falling as much as $2.30 a barrel, or 3.3 percent, and trading at $66.87 as of 12:10 p.m. in London. WTI slumped to $64.16 in New York.

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Iran Budget May Face Short-Term Pressure From Oil, Rouhani Says

FILE: Dec. 7, 2014: Secretary of State John Kerry at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C.(AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday an extension of nuclear talks with Iran should be used to further increase pressure on the country to give up its atomic weapons ambitions and capabilities.

His comments came as Secretary of State John Kerry cited movement in the negotiations and urged patience while vowing that the process would not continue without "tangible progress."

Speaking to the same Mideast policy conference in Washington, Netanyahu and Kerry both pointed to cooperation between moderate Arab states and others in the fight against Islamic State extremists as a potential hopeful sign for defeating the group and improving prospects for Arab-Israeli peace. But, they also noted tremendous hurdles in achieving those goals.

Netanyahu said it was fortunate that international negotiators from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany did not meet last month's deadline for a deal with Iran because he said an agreement reached then "would have effectively left Iran as a threshold nuclear power."

Those talks have been extended the talks until July 2015, with the goal of reaching a framework for a deal by the end of March.

Netanyahu said Israel's "voice" and "concerns" had played a critical role in preventing a bad deal from being reached in November. He added it is imperative to use the extra time to step up and reinforce demands that Iran prove its nuclear program is peaceful as it claims and not as many suspect a cover for atomic weapons development.

"Now we must use the time available to increase the pressure on Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons capability," he said in a videotaped message to the conference at The Brookings Institution.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on how the pressure should be increased. Some Israeli officials and U.S. lawmakers have called for the U.S. to impose more sanctions on Iran but the Obama administration is resisting this, saying more sanctions would violate the terms of an interim agreement reached with Iran and crater the ongoing negotiations.

In his remarks, which followed Netanyahu's taped speech, Kerry acknowledged differences between Israel and the United States on how to approach Iran but stressed that the two countries' goals are the same.

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Kerry cites progress, urges patience in Iran talks - VIDEO: Would new sanctions derail nuke talks? - Iran president ...

Published December 08, 2014

TEHRAN, Iran Iran's President Hassan Rouhani is criticizing widening corruption in his country in unusually blunt terms, saying money once "given under the table now is being given on the table."

Rouhani made the comments Monday at a meeting of an anti-corruption campaign aired live on state television. They come as Iran is in the middle of a plan to decentralize and privatize its economy. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeatedly has warned officials over possible corruption during implementing the program.

In May, Iran executed a billionaire businessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, convicted of being at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam in Iran, the largest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Monday, Rouhani said: "The continuation, the deepening and the expansion of corruption is endangering ... the Islamic Revolution."

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Iran President Hassan Rouhani criticizes widening corruption in country in usually blunt terms

By Cassandra Vinograd

LONDON A Washington Post reporter detained in Iran has been charged with "unknown crimes" by a Tehran judge, the journalist's family said in a statement on Sunday.

Jason Rezaian, the newspaper's bureau chief in Tehran since 2012, was arrested nearly five months ago. The Washington Post on Sunday first reported that the journalist - a dual U.S.-Iranian national was charged with unspecified crimes in his first court appearance Saturday in Tehran.

In a statement provided to NBC News, Rezaian's family said it was "deeply saddened to confirm that, after being held in solitary confinement without charge for 137 days, Jason Rezaian was charged with unknown crimes by the government of Iran."

"In its ongoing disregard of Iran's own laws, the Iranian judiciary has continued to deny Jason access to legal representation, denied his request for bail, and prevented access to review of his case file," the statement added.

Rezaian's case has prompted sharp criticism from the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said early Sunday that the U.S. is "deeply disappointed and concerned" by reports that Rezaian has been charged and that a judge had denied him bail.

"We are also distressed by reports that Jason was not allowed access to an attorney, which is a clear violation of Iran's own laws and international norms," Kerry said in a statement, adding that the U.S. is also concerned that Rezaian is under physical and psychological "duress."

"Jason poses no threat to the Iranian government or to Iran's national security," Kerry said. "We call on the Iranian government to drop any and all charges against Jason and release him immediately.

Iran's own human rights chief has weighed in on the case. In a recent interview, Mohammad Javad Larijan expressed hope to France 24 that the journalist's case would be presented to court soon and that "this fiasco" would "end on good terms."

First published December 7 2014, 10:48 AM

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Iran Charges U.S. Journalist With 'Unknown Crimes': Family