That means we are encouraging the hardliners – the most hardline of the hardline in Israel – to think in terms of a greater Israel, an annexation of what has been seen by the world up until now as territory occupied as a consequence of the 1967 war," Carr said.
But Stormont has been suspended for over a year and the deadlock will continue, given the swing towards republican and unionist hardliners.
Apparently under pressure from hardliners back home, he later claimed that his comments had been distorted.
The remarks appear to reflect deepening US pessimism on Iran following the June presidential elections, which brought an entrenchment by hardliners in Tehran.
But analysts predict that the polls will be boycotted by al-Wefaq and other opposition parties and that it will suit government hardliners if that happens.
As prime minister Alexis Tsipras scrambles to secure a financial lifeline to keep the debt-stricken country afloat, hardliners in his radical left Syriza party have also ratcheted up the pressure.
But Australia under the Abbott government was unable to do what a conservative-led coalition government of the UK found routine – that is, break ranks with the US to make a point against the Israeli hardliners.
"The battle over free expression has just begun in Iran, with Rouhani and his administration pitted against hardliners, who are deeply entrenched in both parliament and the judiciary.
The SDLP is still licking the wounds of its general election drubbing by Sinn Fein and, with the Good Friday process still mired in dispute over IRA disarmament and police reform, all the centrist parties are under remorseless pressure from hardliners.
The clampdown that followed the presidential election marked the victory of the siloviki, hardliners led by Viktor, one of Lukashenko's sons.
As a result of Khamenei's backing, hardliners refrained from attacking Zarif during the talks.
