Iran Nuclear Deal: Final Push

Iran Nuclear Deal: Final Push

The diplomatic saga that is the Iran nuclear deal may finally be entering its closing chapter — with expectations of an imminent breakthrough growing as Washington and Tehran responded to a “final” European Union proposal that would ease sanctions on Iran’s economy, including oil exports, in return for scaling back its advancing atomic program.

The European Union has framed the latest discussions as a last ditch, final effort but diplomats are still working through a number of sticking points and these talks have been defined by how often they’ve stalled or appeared in the brink of failure. Oil markets will be closely watching for more signs that point favorably toward a breakthrough, especially that ship-tracking data shows that a sizeable volume of crude could swiftly reach buyers.

More on Oil: Iran May Drain Offshore Oil Cache If Nuclear Deal Reached

Much rests on what Tehran’s leaders will be willing to accept and forgo, though President Ebrahim Raisi insisted on Monday that any deal would be meaningless before resolving an onerous investigation into the Islamic Republic’s past nuclear work. Iran’s political establishment is used to parrying economic uncertainty and spiraling inflation but the recent surge in food prices has brought huge pressure on the