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At deadline, Iran nuclear talks shift to efforts at keeping negotiations alive At deadline, Iran nuclear talks shift to efforts at keeping negotiations alive
(about 2 hours later)
VIENNA — Nuclear talks with Iran will probably be extended beyond their midnight deadline Monday after negotiators failed to seal a comprehensive agreement, but diplomats said negotiators were still trying to work out a deal. VIENNA — Nuclear talks with Iran will be extended for seven months after intense negotiations failed to reach a comprehensive accord but appeared to make encouraging headway, officials said Monday.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, agreed Sunday to open discussions on continuing the talks past the target date. If that happens, the negotiations are likely to be adjourned until next month. The new target of July 1 — set just hours before the expiration of the midnight Monday — came after negotiators agreed to work toward the “basic principles” of an accord, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who nation is among the six nations in talks with Iran.
Zarif is scheduled to meet later Monday with the entire six-nation negotiating group, including the United States, whose talks have centered on possible easing economic sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear capabilities so it cannot build atomic weapons. “Substantial progress was made,” Lavrov said to the TASS news agency.
Kerry also held a succession of brief meetings with European allies. The sessions suggested the latest round of talks was wrapping up well before the deadline. Lavrov predicted that the parties would agree on the principles of a final document in three or four months, and the technical details would be worked out in the remaining time frame.
“Given progress made this weekend, talks are headed to a likely extension with experts and negotiating teams reconvening in December at a yet-to-be-determined location,” said a Western diplomat familiar with the discussions. Details of the strides made in the talks were not immediately disclosed. But the apparent consensus to push forward on a quick timetable suggests some important gaps may have closed during the days of near nonstop meetings.
The Reuters news agency said possible venues for the next round could be Vienna or Oman, which has played an intermediary role between Washington and Tehran in the past. It also points to an overall agreement to maintain momentum as critics wait in the wings in both Tehran and Washington. Any sense of unraveling could give opponents increased leverage to call into the question the entire negotiating process, which resumed in 2012.
The extension — while expected by many experts — further highlighted the range of disagreements that remain and raised questions about the direction of talks if they resume. The issues have mostly centered on international economic sanctions and the extent of Iran’s nuclear fuel production.
Iran seeks to have the sanctions significantly ease in exchanged for concessions, but insists it will not give up the ability to enrich uranium to make nuclear fuel.
The U.S. and allies want to limit Iran’s enrichment capabilities and step up international monitoring to ensure Iran does not move toward a nuclear weapon in the future. Iran claims it only seeks reactors for energy and medical applications.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, agreed Sunday to open discussions on continuing the talks past the target date.
Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the extension was a welcome relief for members of Congress who suspected a deal was in the making without sufficient roadblocks to Iran’s possible path to build nuclear weapons.
“There has been a real sense of foreboding that the administration was rushing too quickly,” Dubowitz said.
Iran’s unwillingness to budge in the final week of talks, he added, “confirms congressional fears repeatedly expressed that Iran is just going to run out the clock.”
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the failure of world powers to reach an accord with Israel’s archfoe.
Netanyahu urged the tough sanctions remain in place until a deal is in place that would “dismantle Iran’s capacity to make atomic bombs.”
“No deal is better than a bad deal. The deal that Iran was pushing for was terrible. A deal would have left Iran with the ability to enrich uranium for an atom bomb while removing the sanctions,” Netanyahu told the BBC.
The extension does not mean talks collapsed. Nevertheless, it was deeply disappointing for negotiators who had insisted until recent days that a final agreement was still possible.
With talks moving into a new phase, there is the possibly of critics an all sides gaining added leverage.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani now will face increased criticism from hard-liners who oppose making any deal with the United States and portray his efforts to get sanctions lifted as a futile quest.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani now will face increased criticism from hard-liners who oppose making any deal with the United States and portray his efforts to get sanctions lifted as a futile quest.
In Washington, President Obama will confront a Congress controlled by Republicans in January that may resist any deal that eases the pressure on Tehran.In Washington, President Obama will confront a Congress controlled by Republicans in January that may resist any deal that eases the pressure on Tehran.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said negotiators were still having “consultations” on a final agreement that meets both U.S. demands for strict curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program and Iran’s push for sanctions relief — suggesting that moves toward an immediate deal had not yet been abandoned. Iran has had a nuclear program since the 1950s, developed with the help of the United States before the 1979 revolution that ousted the Shah of Iran.
Wang arrived Monday, joining the foreign ministers of the other countries negotiating with Iran: the United States, Russia, Britain, France and Germany. Now, it has about 10,000 working centrifuges and another 9,000 not yet in operation – far more than the hundreds Iran had more than a decade ago when negotiations first began. Iran always has denied it wants to make nuclear weapons, it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970.
Iran maintains it must retain the capacity to enrich uranium to fuel power plants that have not yet been built, and views Western-imposed limits as an attempt to block Iran’s economic development.
But many nations are skeptical, and want to prevent its ability to enrich uranium covertly. That is why the negotiators want monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to have wide-ranging access to Iran’s nuclear plants and labs, many of which already are under scrutiny. But Iran has not given the IAEA all the access it wants, and the agency has said it cannot verify Iran is not enriching sanctions in secret.
Murphy reported from Washington. Ruth Egland in Jerusalem contributed to this report.