U.S. officials fear Iran moving too fast on nuke deal

Iran's president may be setting an unrealistic goal of lifting sanctions before February elections.

With the next phase of the Iran nuclear deal beginning Sunday, some U.S. officials worry that Tehran has set unrealistic expectations for how quickly it can comply with the deal and end economic sanctions.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is impatient to downsize Iran’s nuclear hardware and thereby halt the sanctions on his country. Iran holds parliamentary elections on February 26, and Rouhani's moderate faction might gain if the sanctions are history by then.

Rouhani is competing with hardliners who are casting doubt on when—and even whether—the promised sanctions relief will materialize, and who have recently raised tensions with the U.S. by convicting an American journalist of espionage and testing a ballistic missile in defiance of the United Nations.

In an interview on Iranian TV last week, the Iranian president said the sanctions could come off “one to two months” after Iran begins the process of implementing the nuclear deal. Sunday marks the official start to that process, on what the nuclear deal calls "adoption day," leading to an unspecified "implementation day" when Iran's actions have been verified and sanctions are halted as a reward...............

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