Iran nuclear deal 'very close' as Netanyahu brings negotiators together
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Version 0 of 1. The long and convoluted negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme adjourned on Wednesday amid talk of continuing progress towards a comprehensive deal but of tough political decisions still to be made. The talks will resume on March 15, probably in Geneva, as the latest deadline for agreement looms at the end of the month. Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif said a deal was “very close”, telling NBC that he and his team were prepared to carry on working through the Persian New Year celebration of Nowruz starting on March 21. We want to have an agreement. There are details that need to be worked out. We are prepared to work...round the clock in order to reach an agreement. Zarif has frequently argued that the standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions is unnecessary and easy to solve, as Tehran has no intention of making a bomb and would therefore accept a great deal of transparency to reassure the international community. Zarif’s American counterpart, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, emerged from their ten hours of talks in Montreux, Switzerland, with more of a focus on the half of the glass still empty, warning: “There are still significant gaps and important choices that need to be made.” There are also divisions on the immediate objective. Kerry is committed to securing a political framework deal by the end of this month, with the intricate details to be filled in by the end of June. That was the approach agreed on the last time the talks were extended in November, and congressional Democrats have agreed to fend off new sanctions against Iran until the end of March, imposing an additional political deadline. Tehran however has gone off the idea of a two-phase deal. In his NBC interview, Zarif said: “It is difficult to talk about a political agreement. We want to have an agreement.” And he made clear he viewed the end of June as the only hard all-or-nothing deadline. However, Kerry and Zarif were on the same page when it came to rejecting Binyamin Netanyahu’s contribution to the debate with his barnstorming speech to the US Congress on Tuesday. Zarif repeatedly referred to it as “hysteria”. Kerry, arriving in Saudi Arabia to brief Gulf Arabs on progress, scarcely bothered to veil his disregard for the Israeli prime minister’s views. No one has presented a more viable, lasting alternative for how you actually prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. So folks, simply demanding that Iran capitulate is not a plan. On his return to Israel from his controversial raid on Washington, Netanyahu claimed to have offered a “practical alternative” to the current western negotiating strategic. This seems to refer to his claim that increased pressure in the form of sanctions would force more concessions from Iran. Kerry indicated he did not think that would work, saying none of America’s negotiating partners (the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China) would support a sudden break from the US-led negotiating position of the past few years. European diplomats agreed such a move would break up the six-nation group, whose unity has until now been arguably the West’s biggest strategic asset in keeping pressure on Iran. The sanctions regime around Iran would crumble, leaving a stark choice between acceptance of an accelerated Iranian nuclear programme or military action. It is fear of this scenario that drives the negotiators in Switzerland. For now, they remain stuck in limbo, with neither side ready to make the last big concession, but neither able to walk away. Netanyahu’s theatrics in Washington have reminded them of the price of failure. |