The huge dust storm that cut off Iraqi airspace has died down this afternoon, clearing the air for the arrival of the multiple delegations converging on Baghdad for tomorrow's nuclear talks with the Iranian government. Whether this is a good metaphor for the real issues on the table is open to question.

The mood music coming out of Brussels and Tehran has been upbeat ahead of the talks and the prospect has been raised of the outline of a confidence-building deal emerging from Baghdad, in which Iran gives up enriching 20%-enriched uranium, halting the centrifuges at the deeply-buried site in Fordow, in return for fuel for the Tehran research reactor (TRR), safety advice and equipment and perhaps some relief from sanctions.