The Iranian president’s office has been forced to delete a premature tweet in his name that appeared to welcome a nuclear agreement which had yet to materialise.
The about-face underlined the perils of Twitter statesmanship as well as the volatility of the negotiations in Vienna, where rising anticipation of a much-postponed announcement deal came to nothing once more on Monday. The talks were facing their fourth extension in two weeks.
The deleted tweet on the English-language account under president Hassan Rouhani’s name declared: “#IranDeal is the victory of diplomacy & mutual respect over the outdated paradigm of exclusion & coercion. And this is a good beginning.”
Soon after, a new tweet was posted in its place, adding the word ‘if’ at the beginning.
Rouhani was not alone in being wrong-footed by the turn of events in Vienna. European diplomats had confidently predicted a conclusion on Monday evening after 17 straight days of negotiations. US diplomats briefed journalists on the choreography of events to follow the announcement of a deal, but expectations soured over the course of Sunday night and Monday morning.
Diplomats said it had emerged that some key differences over a new UN security council resolution incorporating the expected agreement, which were thought to have been resolved, were still obstacles to a final agreement. Under that expected settlement, Iran would be subject to restrictions on its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.
As the Monday evening target came and went, Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, appeared on the balcony of the hotel venue and faced shouted questions from the journalists in the street below.
Asked how he was feeling, Zarif replied: “Sleepy and overworked”. On the question of whether there would be a deal overnight, he tilted his head up, a gesture that means “no” in Iran. Asked if there would be a deal on Tuesday, he said: “It is possible.”
The text of the UN security council resolution is one of the thorniest of the final issues. It will determine whether Iran will remain under an arms embargo and restrictions on its missile programme and would stipulate the conditions in which broader sanctions could “snap back” in the event of non-compliance.
A commentary on the state of play on Iranian state TV highlighted the stakes saying “even one misplaced comma can change everything”.
At the Vienna talks, the permanent five members of the UN security council, together with Germany, are negotiating with Zarif’s Iranian delegation. Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst for the International Crisis Group, said both sides were engaging in brinksmanship.
“This won’t be settled till they all sit down late at night to see who blinks first,” Vaez said. “But that brings the danger of miscalculating.”
A western diplomat said on Monday evening that there was no plan for a plenary meeting overnight between the six-nation group and Iran, but one could be arranged at short notice. Another diplomat said “a plenary tonight is still not excluded”.
