Iran has to take some “tough decisions” as world powers seek to hammer out a nuclear deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday with negotiations due to resume next week.
His comments came as he was grilled by US lawmakers over the talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group, which are due to start up again in Vienna on Monday.
Kerry insisted during a hearing of the Senate appropriations committee that Washington was testing whether the new Iranian leadership of Rouhani was serious in reining in its nuclear program, which the West believes is a covert grab for an atomic bomb.

“There’s some very tough decisions the Iranians are going to have to make — very tough — in order to meet the international community’s standard for certainty as to the peacefulness of this program.”

“We have made it crystal clear that Iran is not open for business. They have accepted that,” Kerry said.
“They are not cutting deals. There are people who have traveled, but there have not been new deals.” He stressed again that the tough sanctions regime put in place against Iran, which has brought its economy to its knees, had not been dismantled.
“Nothing in the architecture of the sanctions regime has been changed whatsoever. Iran’s economy contracted by 6 percent last year. It is expected to contract again this year. Inflation remains at almost 40 percent,” Kerry told lawmakers.