NO DICE, APPARENTLY – AT 11:12 A.M. ET:  There's been heavy buzz around the internet in the last 48 hours that the U.S. and Iran have made progress toward a nuclear deal.  The Iranians have now thrown cold water on the reports.  From AP: 

Iran denied reports on Saturday that it had reached a tentative agreement with the US and other world powers on a formula that would rein in its nuclear program.

“Such media propaganda was made with political motivations and is basically aimed at damaging the atmosphere of the nuclear talks and further complicating the process to resolve the nuclear issues,”
said spokeswoman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Marziyeh Afkham, according to IRNA news agency.

On Friday, the Associated Press reported that two diplomats it spoke to said that negotiators at the December round of nuclear talks drew up for the first time a catalog outlining areas of potential accord and differing approaches to remaining disputes.

The AP reported that the diplomats said Iran and the United States have tentatively agreed on a formula that Washington hopes will reduce Tehran’s ability to make nuclear arms by committing it to ship to Russia much of the material needed for such weapons.

Oh swell.  Our security would depend on an arrangement between those two great friends, Moscow and Tehran.  How 'bout including North Korea, just for fun. 

The diplomats said differences still dominate ahead of the next round of Iran-six power talks on Jan. 15 in Geneva. But they suggested that even agreement to create a to-do list would have been difficult previously because of wide gaps between the sides.

Iran denies it wants nuclear arms, but it is negotiating with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany on cuts to its atomic program in hope of ending crippling sanctions. The talks have been extended twice due to stubborn disagreements.

The main conflict is over uranium enrichment, which can create both reactor fuel and the fissile core of nuclear arms. In seeking to reduce Iran’s bomb-making ability, the US has proposed that Tehran export much of its stockpile of enriched uranium — something the Islamic Republic has long said it would not do.

The diplomats said both sides in the talks are still arguing about how much of an enriched uranium stockpile to leave Iran. It now has enough for several bombs, and Washington wants substantial cuts below that level.

But the diplomats said the newly created catalog lists shipping out much of the material as tentatively agreed upon. The diplomats, who are familiar with the talks, spoke to the AP recently and demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to comment on the closed negotiations.

COMMENT:  The great fear among adults in the United States is that Obama will cave in, and make a terrible deal to advance his "legacy," whatever that is.  I have no doubt that, if any kind of deal is reached, even a bad one, normalization with Iran will begin, and Obama will go the Cuba route. 

January 3,  2014