Iran must show ‘more flexibility’ in nuclear talks due to start on Tuesday next week so that a historic deal can be struck, Britain has urged.
US Secretary of State John Kerry also described the negotiations between six world powers and Iran in Vienna as a ‘critical week’ that could end the 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr Kerry said on a visit to London: “This is a very critical week. We hope we can get there but we can’t make any predictions.”
But the officials of the Iranian regime and Western officials have both said next Monday’s self-imposed deadline is unlikely to be met, and that an extension is the most likely scenario.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond added: “I believe a deal can be done. But we will not do a bad deal. These negotiations are extremely tough and Iran needs to show more flexibility if we are to succeed.”
Meanwhile, a senior US official told reporters in London: “I can tell you that extension is not and has not been a subject of negotiations at this point. It will be difficult, but possible to complete a deal by Monday night.
“There are areas where we have made progress, and I’m very glad for that, but there are still areas in which there are very serious gaps that have to be addressed. Whether they can be in this time frame remains to be seen.”
US envoy Laura Kennedy also said in Vienna that Washington was disappointed with Iran for hampering the UN nuclear agency’s attempts to probe discover whether Tehran has ever worked on atomic arms, despite repeated pledges by Iranian leaders to cooperate.
Ms Kennedy said: “Washington is disappointed with Iran’s failure thus far, to constructively engage on this issue.”
The six states – France, China, Russia and Germany, as well as the United States and Britain – want the Iranian regime to scale back its capacity to refine uranium so that it would take much longer to produce fissile material for a nuclear bomb.
