US President Barack Obama puts the chances of success on reaching a deal with the regime in Tehran over its nuclear program at less than 50-50, U.S. Senate Minority Whip told reporters on Wednesday.
“He said in the course of the negotiations he’s been more optimistic, less optimistic. He said that the chances at this point are below 50-50, this week,” Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois told reporters Wednesday.
The Illinois Democrat said that assessment was before Obama received an update from Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been leading the talks in Vienna.
“I think it’s an indication that this is crunch time and that he said he’s not going to accept a weak or bad deal. He knows what’s at stake here,” said Durbin.
Tensions in the nuclear talks between the Iranian regime and six world powers have boiled over in recent days, producing heated exchanges among foreign ministers as Washington and Tehran struggled to overcome remaining hurdles to a final agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing people involved in the talks.
People close to the talks say discussions have advanced since Monday, with the two sides exploring a set of possible trade-offs on some of the final big issues, the report said.
Those include the fate of a United Nations arms and ballistic missile ban on Iran, how and when Tehran will address its past nuclear work, the timing of sanctions relief and assurances that UN inspectors will have access to any sites of concern in Iran under a deal.
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and the Iranian regime’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi were meeting on Thursday morning.
Kerry and the Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have been meeting daily for two weeks in Vienna to overcome the remaining obstacles to a deal. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his British and German counterparts have also rejoined the negotiations.
The White House said Obama and his national security team held a video conference on Wednesday with Kerry, Moniz and the U.S. negotiating team in Vienna.
“The President reviewed the progress of negotiations to date, and provided guidance related to our ongoing efforts to achieve a good deal between the P5+1 and Iran that meets our requirements,” the White House said in a statement.
