State Department On Iran Nuke Negotiations: 'We Know Each Other Well Enough to Make Jokes'

    Some American and Iranian diplomats have been spending so much time together lately that they're beginning to crack jokes with one another. Even though the subject matter of the talks, Iran's nuclear ambitions, is quite serious, a senior state department official shared a lighter moment with reporters who had gathered for a background briefing at the P5+1 talks in Vienna, Austria:

I just told Deputy Foreign Minister Araghchi that that I was coming down to do a backgrounder, and I said, you know, “You’ll know what I’m going to say.” And his suggestion was that I simply hand you the transcript from the last one, and that would probably do the trick. (Laughter.) So we thought that was pretty funny. Obviously, you don’t think that’s so funny, but we all thought it was pretty funny.

    Further into the briefing, the official expanded on the state of the relationship that has developed between the Iranian and American negotiators:

In terms of mood, in a professional way, we all know each other pretty well now. You can tell when the [Iranian] Deputy Foreign Minister jokes. He reads the transcripts of these backgrounders, and when he can joke, “Why don’t you just hand over the last one? You’re going to say the same thing,” it’s reached a level of we know each other well enough to make jokes.

    The current round of talks has a November 24th deadline to reach a complete agreement. The official said there has been progress, but a lot of work remains. The talks have been extended in the past when an agreement could not be reached, but the official said to keep the pressure on, an extension has not been discussed this time around.

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

WH Spokesman: 'The President Has Spent an Inordinate Amount of Time ... Negotiating'

    Throughout his time as President, Barack Obama has often been the subject of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum for not engaging enough with Congress, Republicans in particular, to solve problems and work through legislative issues.  However, during a press gaggle today aboard Air Force One, Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the "President has spent an inordinate amount of time" negotiating with Congress.  Earnest's remarks came in response to a reporter's question [emphasis added]:

Q    The Republicans control the House of Representatives.  Why is the President giving speeches criticizing the Republicans, instead of sitting down with them and trying to  compromise on achieving a budget deal that will get him at least some of what he wants? 

MR. EARNEST:  Well, I think there are a number of reasons for that.  The President has spent an inordinate amount of time, some might even say, negotiating with Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to try to find some consensus, to try to find some common ground about what should be some pretty basic economic principles about supporting the middle class.  That is the President’s top priority.  That is the reason that he ran for President in the first place.  It has been at the top of his agenda throughout his first term.

    Critics of the president might also take issue with Earnest's characterization of the timing of events during the president's first term, referring later in the gaggle to "our nascent economic recovery", while talking about the Affordable Care Act as a "political [battle] waged and won many years ago."


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.