IRAN TALKS DOWN TO THE WIRE – AT 12:16 P.M. ET:  The Iran nuclear talks are scheduled to end in two days, presumably with some agreement.  But the sides are still well apart, and the betting is that the talks will go into overtime. 

There is substantial fear in Washington, even among some diplomats who have worked for Obama, that he will cave in just to get an agreement, erasing still more red lines that he's drawn in the past.  Obama sees an Iran nuclear deal as part of his left-wing legacy.  I doubt if he cares much about the fact that Iran will eventually get the bomb anyway.  From Fox: 

The U.S., Iran and world powers started the final round of nuclear talks on Saturday in Austria, with diplomats expressing optimism that a deal could be reached while addressing serious issues that still need to be resolved.

The group has cited a June 30 deadline for completing more than 18 months of diplomacy aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions.

The Wall Street Journal reports senior officials involved in the Vienna talks said Saturday they anticipated the diplomatic process would likely need to be extended beyond next Tuesday, due to the complexity of issues involved in the negotiations.

Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for 90 minutes Saturday morning and the two diplomats held a second negotiating session in the afternoon for an additional hour. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also arrived in Vienna Saturday and was expected to meet with Kerry as well.

“We’re determined to do everything we can in order to be able to make this important milestone, Kerry said. “But that depends on a lot of things and we’re going to work on them.”

Saturday’s talks focused around Iran’s willingness to send tons of enriched uranium to another country for sale as reactor fuel, diplomats told The Associated Press. While Iran has repeatedly said it doesn’t want nuclear arms, it has more than eight tons that could be turned into the fissile core of a dozen or more atomic bombs if the material was further enriched to weapons-grade levels.

COMMENT:  I have no confidence in this administration's intentions.  I hope I'm proved wrong.

Congress will get a chance to vote on an agreement, but, since it is not a treaty, Obama could veto any Congressional objection.  It is unlikely that Congress would override his veto, as that would require Democratic votes, and party discipline "on behalf of Barack's legacy" would be enforced.

June 28, 2015