WASHINGTON, October 28 (RIA Novosti) — US policy towards Iranian nuclear program and sanctions against Iran make it's hard to reach the agreement by the late November deadline, economics professor at the National Defense University and expert in energy security Dr. Paul Sullivan told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“My sense is the chances are pretty low,” Sullivan said, regarding the prospects of the United States, ratifying an Iranian nuclear deal by the November 24 deadline.
“The politics of the US are militating against such an agreement,” he added.
“It will take years,” Dr. Sullivan continued, saying he believes negotiations will drag on beyond the deadline. “There will be no complete conclusion, certainly [not] before the midterms, maybe even sometime after the midterms.”
Analyzing the impact of a successful agreement and the loosening of sanctions, Dr. Sullivan observed that the introduction of Iranian energy into the global market would impact energy prices.
“The price of natural gas will go down, the price of oil will likely go down if the sanctions are taken off,” he noted.
In turn, with a continued stagnation of the European economies and decreased rates of growth in China, this would impact Russia’s revenue sources from oil and natural gas. However, Sullivan noted that Russia’s turn towards markets in the East “could help it with developing its gas markets and oil markets”.
The deal on an Iranian nuclear program was initially supposed to be reached by July 2014, but the deadline for the agreement was later postponed to November 24, 2014.
The West and Israel have accused Iran of attempting to develop a nuclear weapon under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, while Tehran argues that its nuclear development is aimed purely at meeting the country's growing energy needs and achieving other peaceful goals.
