Vienna – AFP – 21 November 2014 – Troubled Iran nuclear talks enter the make-or-break endgame Friday as US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart seek breakthrough just days ahead of a deadline.
Meeting in Vienna in a final round of talks between Iran and six world powers before Monday’s deadline to agree a deal, the differences are few in numbers but of major significance.
Speaking in Paris Thursday before flying to Vienna, Kerry said however that the possibility of putting more time on the clock — as happened in July with an earlier deadline — was not on the table.
“We are not discussing an extension. We are negotiating to have an agreement. It’s that simple,” Kerry said.
He added however that the United States and all the other powers were “concerned about the gaps”.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had said on Wednesday that he was “not optimistic” the deadline could be met.
Iran’s speaker of parliament Ali Larijani meanwhile told Iranian media: “We are constantly cooperating (but the other side) is raising the tone.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who together with Hammond was expected in Vienna on Friday, said there remained “major differences”.
“We hope that they can be bridged but that depends to a very large extent on Iran’s attitude,” Fabius said at a joint news conference with Kerry in Paris.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif believes however that the onus is on the other side, urging them not to make “excessive demands”.
Iran and the six powers — the US, China, Russia, Britain, France plus Germany — have been negotiating intensively since February to turn an interim accord with Iran reached a year ago into a lasting agreement before November 24.
Two key issues remain: enrichment — rendering uranium suitable for peaceful uses but also, at high purities, for a weapon — and the pace of the lifting of sanctions.
Diplomats say Iran wants all sanctions lifted at once. The six world powers want however to stagger any suspension to be sure that Iran would not renege on its commitments.
Iran wants to massively ramp up the number of enrichment centrifuges — in order, it says, to make fuel for a fleet of future reactors — while the West wants them dramatically reduced.
Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi stuck to this position on Thursday, saying Iran would increase its enrichment capacity to around 20 times its current ability within eight years.