US Secretary of State John Kerry is staying at the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, and so is the Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. But foreign ministers of the five other nations at the negotiating table are leaving or have already left, reflecting a rough slog ahead for a deal, the Associated Press reported.
All seven ministers had come to Vienna over the past few days in the hope that their added diplomatic weight would clinch an agreement. But they decided to leave after talks busted through a second extension on Tuesday, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying the sides were still apart over nearly 10 issues.
The new tentative target date for a deal now is Friday. The U.S., backed by Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, want long-term curbs on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, offering Tehran sanctions relief in return.
The regime’s state-run news agency ISNA quoted an unnamed regime official as saying: “Iran has presented constructive solutions to overcome the remaining differences. We will not show flexibility regarding our red lines.”
But Western officials indicated they have yet to see new proposals from Tehran that could end the deadlock, Reuters report. The biggest sticking points include issues such as a United Nations arms embargo, U.N. missile sanctions, the speed of sanctions relief, and Research and Development (R&D) on advanced nuclear centrifuges.
“I haven’t seen anything new from Iran,” a Western diplomat close to the talks told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Another Western official echoed the remarks.
The Iranian regime and the P5+1 states gave themselves at least until Friday to negotiate an agreement, but a source from one of the powers said on Tuesday they had to wrap up in the next 48 hours.
Speaking to reporters late on Tuesday, a senior U.S. official suggested that the negotiations were approaching a moment of truth.
“I believe we will in the near term either get this deal or find out we can’t,” the U.S. official said.
The Iranian regime and the powers have a rough draft of an agreement with five technical annexes, which diplomats say adds up to around 80 pages. But the text contains many brackets highlighting areas of dispute. The disagreements over U.N. Security Council sanctions are among the most difficult, officials said.
“Removing the remaining brackets, this seems to be very, very, very tough,” a senior Western diplomat told reporters.
Kerry and Zarif stayed behind in Vienna in an attempt to break the logjam while most of the other foreign ministers returned to their capitals. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who is coordinating the talks, also remained in Vienna to help find a compromise.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are expected to return to Vienna on Wednesday evening.
U.S. and European officials have indicated that they are prepared to walk away from the negotiations if there is not a deal soon, while the Iranian regime’s officials have said they are happy to continue negotiating.
The latest extension of the talks to Friday left open the possibility an agreement would not arrive in time for the deadline to allow an expedited, 30-day review of a deal by the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress.
If a deal is sent to Congress between July 10 and Sept. 7, Congress will have up to 60 days to review it. U.S. officials fear that could provide more time for any deal to unravel.
An online panel will be held later on Wednesday (July 8, 2015) to discuss the possible international nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime. It will be streamed live here on ncr-iran.org.
The pending nuclear agreement between the P5+1 and the Iranian regime will have major consequences for global peace and security. The panel of experts will discuss the prospects of the deal, the significance of intrusive inspections, the challenges the international community faces for verification, and Tehran’s strategy. There will also be a live Questions and Answers session.
The event will start at 11:00 a.m. (Washington DC)
(17:00 Central European Summer Time).
You can send questions to the panel via Twitter using #Iranfreedom or @Iran_policy