US-Iran Prisoner Deal a Rare Breakthrough – Can It Lead to Others?

“It may be safer to view this as a one-off,” Jonathan Lord, a former Pentagon and Congressional staffer now at the Center for a New American Security, told The Messenger, referring to the prisoner deal. “But there’s no question that administration officials were very clear in their talks in Oman about what would happen if things didn’t get better. And perhaps we are starting to see some of the fruits of those talks coming to bear now.”

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Lord also said that given the wide range of issues dividing the U.S. and Iran, “there's probably much less appetite for a straight return [to the nuclear deal] at this point, if we can't somehow link it to wider Iranian behavior.”

On the Iranian side, there may also be little interest in a comprehensive agreement, given how far the nuclear program has already advanced.

Read the full story and more from The Messenger.