The last mile

NEGOTIATORS from six world powers (known as the P5+1) and Iran will gather this week in Vienna for a final push toward a deal to constrain the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme before a selfimposed deadline of November 24th. The flurry of activity over the past few days suggests at least the possibility, if not the probability, of an historic breakthrough.

There were few public signs of progress in two days of bargaining in Oman last weekend between John Kerry, America’s secretary of state; Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s senior negotiator; and Muhammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister. But an announcement on November 11th by Russia and Iran of a deal to build four new reactors at Bushehr, an existing Russian-built power station, and four at another site, hints at how each side could benefit. Iran retains an ambitious civilian nuclear programme; Russia gets influence and money; the West gets guarantees that Iran cannot get close to building an atomic bomb without great risk.