The Washington Post, Geneva, 9 Nov 2013 – Two days of marathon negotiations, by far the most direct and extended high-level contact between the United States and Iran in more than three decades, ended early Sunday without agreement over an interim plan on Iran ‘s disputed nuclear program.
After a lengthy final meeting between top diplomats from six leading nations, including Secretary of State John F. Kerry and an Iranian negotiating team led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the two sides announced their teams would reconvene Nov. 20.
A lot of concrete progress has been achieved, but some differences remain, Ashton said without elaboration at the brief news conference. She declined to characterize which of the six foreign ministers at the table across from Iran representing the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China had raised objections to a draft text.
But reports from inside the closed meetings and public statements by the foreign ministers throughout the day indicated that France had been most adamant in refusing to agree to the proposal.
There are still some questions to be addressed, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said as he left the final meeting.
Zarif declined to criticize the French. Obviously the six countries may have differences of views, he said, but we are working together, and hopefully we will be able to reach an agreement when we meet again.
The draft plan called for Iran to freeze, but not dismantle, its efforts and ability to produce weapons-capable uranium and plutonium in exchange for a limited easing of economic sanctions on the struggling Iranian economy.
The plan was designed as an interim agreement for the next six months, while negotiators finalized a more permanent program.
The announcement concluded a day of musical chairs and closed sessions that went into Saturday night.
As officials emerged from one meeting to begin another, they offered differing accounts of the extent of progress being made and whether agreement during the current negotiating round remained possible.
Kerry met with Zarif and Ashton for five hours on Friday and two hours at midday Saturday before a third session that began well after dark.
Earlier in the day, as Zarif met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he told Iranian media that progress was being made and some issues had been resolved. Later, Zarif told the BBC in an interview that his message to President Obama was that this window of opportunity won’t be open indefinitely, BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen tweeted.