A senior European negotiator who blamed the Iranian regime for failing to compromise in nuclear talks said on Thursday that 5+1 countries are unlikely to reach a framework agreement with Tehran on its nuclear program in the coming days as the sides are still far apart on key issues.
The negotiator told reporters on condition of anonymity: “Contrary to what the Iranians are saying with regard to 90 percent of an accord being done, that’s not true”, Reuters reported.
“We are not close to an agreement,” the negotiator said.
A senior U.S. State Department official on Thursday denied reports there was a draft nuclear deal in circulation among six world powers and Iran.
Several Western officials had privately spoken of a document with brackets highlighting areas of disagreement.
The current round of talks in Switzerland may need to continue beyond Friday, the official said.
“We are pretty far away. There are a lot of issues that still need to be resolved. The Iranians must make substantial concessions,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the sides were working on difficult issues.
“We’re pushing some tough issues but we made progress,” Kerry told reporters, adding that it was unclear when the U.S. delegation would return to Washington.
Meanwhile in Washington, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee pressed the Obama administration Thursday to give Congress a greater role in approving any nuclear deal with Iran.
“I think the American people, through their elected representatives, should be weighing in on this deal,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told a top U.S. State Department official. “I know we disagree on that point.”
Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said more than 360 members of Congress have sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama detailing their concerns about negotiations with the Iranian regime.
“With a deep history of deception, covert procurement, and clandestine facilities, Iran is not ‘any other’ country, to be conceded an industrial scale nuclear program,” Royce said.
“Any meaningful agreement must keep restrictions in place for decades, as over 360 members of Congress — including every member of this committee — are demanding in a letter to the president.”