Christians are praying against war in the Middle East over Iran’s nuclear programme. And most reports about the recent talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan, between Iran and the permanent members of the UN plus Germany, seem to indicate that possibly, as in the story of Elijah praying for rain, there is a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand on the horizon. No, there has not been a major breakthrough, but there has been enough shifting of positions to give the next set of talks, scheduled for 18th March in Istanbul, traction. Iran seems to be open to not enriching any more uranium to 20% which can then be easily turned into weapon’s grade material, and accepts more monitoring of the Ferdow facility. The other countries seem no longer to be insisting that Iran ships out the 20% enriched uranium it already possesses, nor the closure of the Ferdow facility as had been previously demanded. And crucially for Iran, the other powers are talking about easing the severity of the sanctions regime, specifically on gold and petrochemical exports. As Iran 30 has repeatedly stated, war for Iran would be a catastrophe. It is important that Christians continue to intercede so that these negotiations will be successful. Pray for •All diplomats engaged in these talks, especially Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief negotiator •Process of negotiations to result in more freedoms within Iran •Security and peace for all countries in the region, including Israel