Iran-US trade nears $150m
Iran-US trade reached $147.5 million from January to October 2014, according to a report released by the US Census Bureau statistics.
By: Levant TV
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Iran-US trade nears $150m - Video
Iran Engages Taliban Crossing Border
Subscribe for more http://goo.gl/bY5w6 --- Footage footage has surfaced online allegedly showing the Iranian military attacking Taliban terrorists attempting to cross the Iran - Pakistan...
By: GlobalLeaks
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Iran Engages Taliban Crossing Border - Video
To be sure, the United States and Iran remain divided on a number of major political issuesincluding Iran's support for Syria's leadership, and perhaps especially its refusal to recognize the state of Israel. Iran has also directed extremely threatening language toward Israel, a critical U.S. ally.
Aside from Israel, U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would become concerned by renewed relations between the United States and Iran. Saudi Arabia has remained the top U.S. ally in the region (besides Israel) because it has provided abundant oil and cooperated with American military activities in the region, Bremmer said. But that relationship may be no more of a natural fit than a relationship with Iran.
"These are strategic allies of convenience, but there's not a lot that really binds them together," Bremmer said.
Read MoreWithout a deal, Iran's economy to be on 'its knees'
American and European financial institutions and companies would be hesitant to do business in Iran in a post-sanctions world, Clawson said.
Corruption remains a serious problem, and foreign businesses see the issue as having become even more thoroughly entrenched in recent years as Iran has had to devise ways to evade sanctions, Clawson said. The Revolutionary Guards, a politically powerful branch of the Iranian military, has a tendency to muscle into markets after merchants make them profitable, making it difficult to determine which sectors are truly private, he added.
Clawson also anticipates banks will be wary of running afoul of regulators following Commerzbank's anticipated $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department on charges that it violated Iranian sanctions and money laundering laws. Standard Chartered paid $327 million to settle similar claims two years ago.
Read MoreIraq's Kurdistan says to deepen ties with Iran
Ultimately, the United States has a broader incentive for rapprochement with Tehran. Iran has the potential to present a model for what world trade and globalization can bring to the Middle East, said Salehi-Isfahani. By playing the development game, Iran could influence its neighbors to do the same.
"This idea that you behave yourself, you have elections, you elect moderate leaders, you build your roads and schools, and you succeed, that's a lesson that Americans are trying to sell to the world," he said. "If Americans have any role in making that happen [in Iran], that will be the most stabilizing influence in the Middle East of anything I can see the Americans doing."
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US, Iran and a friendlier future?
To be sure, the United States and Iran remain divided on a number of major political issuesincluding Iran's support for Syria's leadership, and perhaps especially its refusal to recognize the state of Israel. Iran has also directed extremely threatening language toward Israel, a critical U.S. ally.
Aside from Israel, U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would become concerned by renewed relations between the United States and Iran. Saudi Arabia has remained the top U.S. ally in the region (besides Israel) because it has provided abundant oil and cooperated with American military activities in the region, Bremmer said. But that relationship may be no more of a natural fit than a relationship with Iran.
"These are strategic allies of convenience, but there's not a lot that really binds them together," Bremmer said.
Read MoreWithout a deal, Iran's economy to be on 'its knees'
American and European financial institutions and companies would be hesitant to do business in Iran in a post-sanctions world, Clawson said.
Corruption remains a serious problem, and foreign businesses see the issue as having become even more thoroughly entrenched in recent years as Iran has had to devise ways to evade sanctions, Clawson said. The Revolutionary Guards, a politically powerful branch of the Iranian military, has a tendency to muscle into markets after merchants make them profitable, making it difficult to determine which sectors are truly private, he added.
Clawson also anticipates banks will be wary of running afoul of regulators following Commerzbank's anticipated $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department on charges that it violated Iranian sanctions and money laundering laws. Standard Chartered paid $327 million to settle similar claims two years ago.
Read MoreIraq's Kurdistan says to deepen ties with Iran
Ultimately, the United States has a broader incentive for rapprochement with Tehran. Iran has the potential to present a model for what world trade and globalization can bring to the Middle East, said Salehi-Isfahani. By playing the development game, Iran could influence its neighbors to do the same.
"This idea that you behave yourself, you have elections, you elect moderate leaders, you build your roads and schools, and you succeed, that's a lesson that Americans are trying to sell to the world," he said. "If Americans have any role in making that happen [in Iran], that will be the most stabilizing influence in the Middle East of anything I can see the Americans doing."
GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Iranian nuclear negotiations resumed Wednesday in Geneva, marking the first round of talks since the Nov. 24 deadline expired without agreement.
International negotiators vowed in November to continue the talks for an additional seven months.
Delegates from Iran and the the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) plus Germany -- gathered Wednesday in Geneva for a two-hour session.
The Iranian delegation, led by deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araghchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi, met later in the day with Russian and Chinese envoys for separate bilateral discussions. Araghchi and Ravanchi were also expected to hold a meeting with British, French and German delegates.
Bilateral talks were held in the days leading up to the official resumption of multi-party negotiations.
On Tuesday, the Iranian deputy foreign ministers met for 10 hours with the U.S. delegation, headed by acting deputy Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The advance meeting was chaired by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the agenda at the lengthy meeting "included every possible aspect of the nuclear negotiations in this round of talks."
Araghchi, Iran's senior negotiator, said he was satisfied with the "general atmosphere" as the latest round of talks began.
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Iran nuclear negotiations resume in Geneva