Vienna: US Secretary of State John Kerry said progress had been made yesterday in tough talks with Iran on its nuclear programme, praising what he called the “constructive” atmosphere.
“I think we have resolved some of the things that were outstanding and we’ve made some progress,” he said as he met his team in Vienna.
Meetings have been happening all day, Kerry said, adding: “We have a couple of different lines of discussion that are going on right now. The atmosphere is very constructive,” he told reporters who travelled with him from Washington.
“We still have a couple of very difficult issues, and we’ll be sitting down to discuss those in the near term — this evening and into tomorrow.”
Talks are heading into their third weekend as global powers and Iran seek to bridge the final gaps blocking a long-sought deal.
Iran and six powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — seek to end a 13-year stand-off with Iran over its suspect nuclear programme with a deal which will block its pathways to developing a nuclear bomb in exchange for lifting biting global sanctions.
Terms of a 2013 interim accord under which Iran has suspended much of its uranium enrichment in return for some sanctions relief were extended to Monday to overcome a deadlock.
Iran and major powers gave themselves until Monday to reach a nuclear agreement, their third extension in two weeks, as Tehran accused the West of throwing up new stumbling blocks to a deal.
Both sides say there has been progress in two weeks of talks, but British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called it “painfully slow” and with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius left Vienna saying they would return today.
Having missed a Friday morning US congressional deadline, US and European Union officials said they were extending sanctions relief for Iran under an interim deal through Monday to provide more time for talks on a final deal.
Both sides remain divided over issues that include a UN arms embargo on Iran which Western powers want to keep in place, access for inspectors to military sites in Iran and answers from Tehran over past activity suspected of military aims.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sought to blame the West for the impasse.
“Now, they have excessive demands,” he said of the major powers’ negotiating position.
An agreement would be the biggest step towards rapprochement between Iran and the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But negotiations have become bogged down, with diplomats speaking of a shouting match between Kerry and Zarif.
The White House said the US and its negotiating partners “have never been closer” to agreement with Iran but that the US delegation would not wait indefinitely.
“The president has indicated to his negotiating team that they should remain in Vienna and should continue to negotiate as long as talks continue to be useful,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
“And if it becomes clear that Iran is not interested in engaging in a constructive way to try to resolve the remaining sticking points, then the negotiators should come home.”
The negotiators missed the Friday morning deadline set by the US Congress for an expedited 30-day review of the deal. Any deal sent to Congress before September 7 would now be subject to a 60-day review period, accounting for lawmakers’ summer recess.
Agencies
