The former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq acknowledged on Sunday morning that some of the pessimism surrounding the Iran nuclear talks was warranted, calling the potential deal “hard to sell.”
Christopher Hill, who was also the chief disarmament negotiator in the failed nuclear talks with North Korea, said that both the United States and Iran will have a hard time convincing their people that the deal is a good one.
"Certainly from the U.S. vantage point, they need to go back to Washington and kind of oversell the deal," argued Hill in an appearance on "Meet the Press."
"The deal is so hinged on technical issues that it is going to be hard to sell," Hill said.
Hill added that the Iranians will have to tout the lifting of sanctions back in Tehran, but that neither side will achieve a “very nice and clean deal.”
“Both sides are going to have a heck of a time selling it back in capitals,” he added. “And so I think some of this pessimism is very real.”
The former ambassador also addressed the concern that allies like Saudi Arabia have that Iran will be strengthened both through the nuclear deal and through partnering in the fight in Yemen. “From the Saudi perspective, they look at this deal with Iran and they see something that goes beyond just the nuclear issue,” Hill said. “They see some kind of ... re-emerging partnership with the U.S. and Iran.”