BICOM

With a 31 March deadline for reaching an agreement, this weekend’s negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme in Lausanne, Switzerland, will give a strong indication of the chances of a deal being signed.

In the UK, both the Guardian and the Telegraph have reports and analyses of the issues surrounding the talks.

Any agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers (the US, Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany) would reduce Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity, limit the development of new nuclear technology and enforce inspections while lessening the sanctions regime on Iran which has crippled the country’s economy.

However, according to media reports, large gaps between the parties remain on the extent of sanctions relief and on how far-reaching the restrictions on Iranian work on developing new centrifuges and other technology.

The talks will go on against the backdrop of serious scepticism about the nature of the deal from both Israel and Republicans (and some Democrats) in the US Congress – highlighted most significantly by Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s highly critical speech in Congress on 3 March.

If the deal on the tale is agreed, Israel will have to decide how to respond to what it will regard as a historical mistake by the international community, which could enable Iran to reach a point of no return in its development of a nuclear bomb. If the talks fail, Israel will have to decide whether to wait to see if stronger sanctions will have an effect, or to consider the military option.