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Iran nuclear talks: push for deal on final day in Vienna Iran nuclear talks: Philip Hammond promises ‘last big push’ in Vienna
(about 3 hours later)
Senior politicians from around the world converged on Vienna on Sunday evening in the hope that nine months of negotiations over a comprehensive deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme would produce a framework agreement on the final day of intensive talks in the Austrian capital. The UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, promised a “last big push’ on Monday morning to complete a nuclear agreement with Iran, but warned that negotiators in Vienna are still a long way apart.
Iranian officials predicted that a “political agreement” would be reached on Monday, leaving many of the technical details to be resolved later. It is far from clear, however, whether such an agreement in principle would be enough to prevent the US congress imposing new sanctions on Tehran. Hammond was speaking at the end of an intensive weekend of talks which brought foreign ministers to the Austrian capital in an effort to achieve a breakthrough on the last scheduled day of nine months of negotiations.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, was due to arrive for the first time in the current round of talks. His Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, was also due to board a flight arriving in Vienna on Monday morning. They will join the US secretary of state, John Kerry; the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond; and his French and German counterparts, Laurent Fabius and Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Catherine Ashton, the former EU foreign policy chief, is chairing the talks . Western diplomats said that achieving a comprehensive deal in the last 24 hours was looking increasingly difficult, but added that none of the seven countries represented in Vienna was willing to allow the negotiations to collapse given the progress that had been made and the dire consequences of failure for Middle East stability.
In another sign that a critical moment was at hand in the long-running standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme, the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, flew in to meet Kerry on his jet at Vienna airport. Saudi Arabia is not a participant in the negotiations, but as Iran’s greatest rival in the Gulf, Kerry has sought to consult Riyadh at pivotal moments. They said the talks could be given extra time, but it was unclear whether the foreign ministers in Vienna would sign a framework agreement, leaving some details to be worked out later, as proof of progress. Another, less ambitious option, would be for them to issue a political statement of intent which resolved few, if any, of the remaining contentious issues, but which envisaged concluding a deal in the future.
Kerry was also scheduled to have a one-to-one meeting with his Iranian opposite number, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Sunday evening. It would be the first time in the week-long round of talks that the two have spoken without Ashton being present. Asked about the possibility of an extension to the talks, the British foreign secretary said: “At the moment we’re focused on the last push ... to try and get this across the line. Of course if we’re not able to do it, we’ll then look at where we go from there, but at the moment everybody’s talking about how we are going to try and bridge that gap and move things forward with the Iranians.”
Later on Sunday night, Britain was due to host a working dinner for the US, French and German foreign ministers to discuss the western negotiating position. However, Hammond added: “I wouldn’t want to give any false hopes here. We’re still quite a long way apart and there are some very tough and complex issues to deal with but we’re all focused right now on trying to get that deal done.”
The deadline, set last year, for the negotiations to reach agreement is Monday night. It appears unlikely that there was enough time left to complete a detailed accord, but the arrival of the foreign ministers suggested that some form of framework agreement could be close, which would leave some of the details to be worked out over the next two months. The foreign secretary was speaking before a working dinner with the US secretary of state, John Kerry, their French and German counterparts, Laurent Fabius and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the former EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who is chairing the negotiations. The meeting was to discuss western strategy in the last 24 hours before the midnight deadline on Monday night.
Both the US and Iranian negotiators are under pressure at home to show substantial progress in the face of fierce opposition to compromise from hardliners. Analysts said that a simple extension of the deadline would leave any prospective deal vulnerable to being derailed before completion. At the same time, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held a meeting with the Iranian delegation led by his Iranian opposite number, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“If they have an agreement that is a real document, but they need a limited amount of time to agree details on implementation, then that is a significant breakthrough,” said Trita Parsi, the head of the National Iranian American Council. The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, is due to arrive on Monday morning for a breakfast meeting with Zarif.
“If the agreement is strong enough, it would have to be a document not a verbal statement. Monday is a self-imposed deadline which they can change, but they face a hard deadline when the new congress comes into power … Congress’s ability to kill the talks if there is no deal is significant. If there is a deal, it will be very costly for congress to scuttle.” In another sign that a critical moment was at hand in the long-running standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme, the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, flew in to Vienna on Sunday and held a meeting with Kerry on his jet at the city’s airport. Saudi Arabia is not a participant in the negotiations, but as Iran’s greatest rival in the Gulf, Kerry has sought to consult Riyadh at pivotal moments.
Any meaningful deal would have to stipulate the limits under which the Iranian nuclear programme would operate, and include a possible timetable for the lifting of international sanctions. In order to buy more time for the talks, both the US and Iranian negotiators will have to fend off criticism from conservatives in their home countries, fiercely opposed to the compromises necessary to seal an agreement. A final deal would involve Iranian acceptance of curbs on its nuclear activities in return for a lifting of sanctions. The duration of such an agreement, before Iran was free of such constraints, is one of the issues on the table in Vienna.
“If they have an agreement that is a real document, but they need a limited amount of time to agree details on implementation, then that is a significant breakthrough,” said Trita Parsi, the head of the National Iranian American Council, an advocacy group backing a diplomatic solution to the nuclear stand-off.
“If the agreement is strong enough, it would have to be a document not a verbal statement. Monday is a self-imposed deadline which they can change, but they face a hard deadline when the new [US] Congress comes into power … Congress’s ability to kill the talks if there is no deal is significant. If there is a deal, it will be very costly for Congress to scuttle.”