The new deadline on November 24 for Iran is rapidly approaching, and still large questions about basic elements of the deal are prevalent in the media. Iran has released new statements prohibiting any approval in negotiations on “backward steps,” specifically the enrichment of uranium and number of active centrifuges. The comments were made by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is heading up the Iranian delegation in charge of negotiations under Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and were in response to lead US negotiator Wendy Sherman calling on Araqchi to “finish the job,” citing the size and scope of the enrichment program as a barrier to any real progress. She further stated “Iran’s leaders would very much hope that the world would conclude that the status quo – at least on this pivotal subject – should be acceptable, but obviously it is not.”

Commentators note this example as further evidence that Iran does not fear any consequences for its current program and the regime is biding its time, waiting for P5+1 negotiators to buckle closer to the deadline. They further admonish the United States government from promising to slap even more sanctions on the regime in order to increase the pressure that Rouhani’s moderate coalition is under to improve the depressed economy. As for the program, it is unclear how many active centrifuges remain operational, but US figures put that number at several thousand.

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News Briefs:

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the Kremlin will recognize the results of the Ukrainian parliamentary elections, regardless of who the victors are. The statement released through Russia’s RIA news agency urged future Ukrainian members of parliament to set aside questions of “east or west” and to prioritize the resolution of the country’s domestic issues above all.

• Turkmenistan celebrated its 23^rd independence day yesterday, October 27^th. Turkmenistan’s history since the fall of the Soviet Union has been one marked in neutrality and veiled in mystery due to the Turkmen regime’s highly reclusive nature. Nonetheless, Turkmenistan has maintained regional importance due to its vast gas and oil reserves and as a neutral barrier between east and west. Ashgabat has attempted to leverage its position to serve as an investment corridor for firms and former government looking to deepen ties with Central Asia and Russia.

• Gazprom President Alexei Miller has announced that the Izobilny-Nevinnomyssk gas pipeline has been completed in southern Russia. With the completion of this stretch of the pipeline southern Russia’s dependency on Central Asian gas will be no more. The price of Central Asian gas has risen and made it difficult for the majority of southern Russia to pay for gas from Central Asia, which previously made up 40% of all gas used in the region.

• Azerbaijan has finalized a deal with Kazakhstan’s energy ministry which will see the delivery of Azerbaijani gasoline to needy Kazakhstan. Despite Astana’s wealth of hydrocarbons, Astana has been unable to fulfill domestic demand using its own resources, and has entered into talks with Turkmenistan, Belarus and China, in addition to Azerbaijan and others.

• Ukraine will be the recipient of economic and humanitarian aid from an unlikely donor, Kazakhstan. The aid, which was announced in a forum in Minsk during a Customs Union meeting, has been given primarily to stabilize the currently precarious Ukrainian political situation. Kazakhstan had previously supported Western organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, albeit in paltry amounts, though this new aid is expected to be much more substantial.