Don’t be fooled by media reports claiming the Iranian’s are to blame for the “nuclear deal” not being formally written down. This is absolutely a McDonough, Jarrett, Blinkin and Rhodes type of proposition. 

This approach absolutely reeks of Denis McDonough strategery.  This verbal-only construct benefits the White House FAR MORE more than the Iranians.

By agreeing to something that is not technically written down and bindingly agreed to, and by relying only on spoken acceptances of what constructs the agreement, the U.S. electorate and congress is forced to accept the word of President Obama and John Kerry for what the agreement actually entails. This is highly strategic maneuvering to avoid sunlight upon the agreement itself.

PARIS (NYT) — If an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear capability is reached by deadline in the next seven days, one thing may be missing: an actual written accord, signed by the Iranians.

Over the past few weeks, Iran has increasingly resisted any kind of formal “framework” agreement at this stage in the negotiations, preferring a more general statement of “understanding” followed by a final accord in June, according to Western diplomats involved in the talks.

Should that position hold — one of the many unknowns of the coming days — the United States and its five negotiating partners may find themselves in the uncomfortable position of describing the accord as they understand it while the Iranians go home to offer their own version.

That poses a weighty political challenge to the Obama administration, which is already under pressure to present Iran’s commitments to a suspicious Congress by early April, in an effort to hold off the passage of sanctions or a bill that would require Congress to sign off on any agreement. (read more)