CFR Daily News Brief 9/24 Iran Takes Center Stage at UN

Daily News Brief September 24, 2013

Top of the Agenda: Iran Takes Center Stage at UN

There is rare excitement at the annual UN General Assembly meeting, where President Barack Obama and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani will deliver speeches today as Tehran continues a charm offensive that could lead to a breakthrough in nuclear talks and sanctions (WaPo). President Obama is expected to signal willingness to engage Iran, but will remain firm in his call for a UN Security Council resolution to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons (AP). Moscow said it hoped to reach an agreement on Syria this week, but that talks with the United States "are not going so smoothly" (Reuters).

Analysis

"For years, many have noted that the problems in the Middle East are so intricately related that it would be hard to solve each on its own. Obama may have before him a rare convergence of events, factors, and forces where at least some of those problems can be dealt with simultaneously. He has a remarkable chance to pull the gold ring," CFR Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow Fred Kaplan writes for Slate.

"On that diplomatic chessboard, and before a big crowd that has gathered to watch the protagonists in a standoff with high stakes, it is easy to see the American player being decisively outclassed. There is cunning aplenty in Persia, an eye for that exact moment when one's rival has been trapped," writes Fouad Ajami for Bloomberg.

"The president also faces domestic risks with Iran. Having been burned once before, Obama will be pilloried by critics as a congenital naïf if talks collapse. But it is a wager the president cannot avoid, for it presents the best opportunity for a nuclear deal with Teheran that he is likely to see. And in diplomacy, as in much of life, nothing ventured, nothing gained," writes CFR Senior Fellow Stewart M. Patrick.