U.S. refuses to back down on Iran sanctions relief Agencies/Jul. 10, 2015
VIENNA: Washington’s refusal to budge on Tehran’s demands for relief on economic sanctions as part of a nuclear agreement threw a wrench into last-minute talks between Iran and world powers, a source told the country’s semi-official Fars news agency Thursday. “While the Iranian team is showing flexibility, the Americans are refusing to accept Iran’s obvious right, particularly on sanctions,” Fars quoted an unnamed source as saying.The roadblock emerged as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to walk away from the talks as he signaled that diplomats won’t conclude an agreement by Friday – another delay that this time could complicate American efforts to quickly implement any deal.
“This is not open-ended,” Kerry told reporters outside the 19th-century Viennese palace hosting the negotiations. “We can’t wait forever for the decision to be made. If the tough decisions don’t get made, we are absolutely prepared to call an end to this process.” It was the strongest indication yet of U.S. frustration with Iran. It comes two days after President Barack Obama promised Senate Democrats the same response to Iranian intransigence, suggesting patience for continuing the current round of discussions was running out as it headed into its 14th day.
The latest delay for a comprehensive deal is significant. Iran is demanding prompt easing of economic penalties for nuclear concessions, and the longer it takes world powers to make good on their promises, the longer they’ll have to wait for the Iranians to scale back their nuclear program. Under U.S. law, the seven nations negotiating in Vienna must complete the accord early Friday to avoid invoking a 60-day congressional review period during which President Barack Obama cannot waive sanctions on Iran. If they meet the target, the review would only be 30 days.The specter of prolonged public relations campaigns for and against the pact also may not work in Obama’s favor. The delay could imply that the U.S., Iran and other negotiating powers may end up having to push off the talks until September when any deal would again only amount to a 30-day review period.“We will not rush and we will not be rushed,” Kerry said.
“We would not be here continuing to negotiate just for the sake of negotiating. We’re here because we believe we are making real progress toward a comprehensive deal,” he said. But “we are not going to sit at the negotiating table forever.” Kerry spoke after discussing the state-of-play with other world powers for almost an hour Thursday evening. That conversation followed a flurry of other closed-door meetings, including a 45-minute session between Kerry and his Iranian counterpart.
“We’re working hard, but not rushed, to get the job done,” Zarif tweeted. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he would remain in Vienna for talks into Friday morning, citing “good things, but there is still work to do.”The current round of negotiations has already been extended twice since it started on June 27, as has an interim nuclear accord with Iran that these negotiations are meant to finalize. The preliminary deal was due to expire on June 30, then July 7 and then Friday. It would have to be renewed a third time if the talks go beyond Friday.
When the talks missed their second deadline it raised new questions about the ability of world powers to cut off all Iranian pathways to nuclear weapons through diplomacy.Long-standing differences persist over inspections of Iranian facilities and its research and development of advanced nuclear technology. New difficulties also have surfaced over the past few days. Iran is pushing for an end to a U.N. arms embargo on the country but Washington opposes that demand.
Iran, powers give themselves to Monday for nuclear deal John Irish/Arshad Mohammed| Reuters/ July 10, 2015
VIENNA: 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 Secretary Philip Hammond called it “painfully slow” and he and his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, left Vienna saying they would return on Saturday. Having missed a Friday morning U.S. congressional deadline, U.S. 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. Iran and six powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – are trying to end a more than 12-year dispute over Iran’s atomic program by negotiating limits on its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The sides remain divided over issues that include a U.N. 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 said a deal was unlikely to be reached on Friday and negotiators would probably spend the weekend in Vienna. He sought to blame the West for the impasse. “Now, they have excessive demands,” he said of the major powers’ negotiating position. Britain’s Hammond said ministers would regroup on Saturday to see if they could overcome the remaining hurdles.”We are making progress, it’s painfully slow,” he told reporters before leaving Vienna. Zarif has been holding intense meetings for two weeks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to try to hammer out a deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program in return for withdrawing economic sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
An agreement would be the biggest step towards rapprochement between Iran and the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But the negotiations have become bogged down, with final deadlines extended three times in the past 10 days and diplomats speaking of a shouting match between Kerry and Zarif. The negotiators missed a Friday morning deadline set by the U.S. Congress for an expedited 30-day review of the deal. Any deal sent to Congress before Sept. 7 would now be subject to a 60 day review period, accounting for lawmakers’ summer recess. U.S. officials had previously expressed concern that the extended review would provide more time for any deal to unravel, but have played down that risk in the last few days as it became increasingly likely that the deadline would not be met.
On Thursday, Kerry suggested Washington’s patience was running out: “We can’t wait forever,” he told reporters. “If the tough decisions don’t get made, we are absolutely prepared to call an end to this.” Ali Akbar Velayati, top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called Kerry’s remarks “part of America’s psychological warfare against Iran.”
A senior Iranian official speaking on condition of anonymity said the United States and the other powers were shifting their positions and backtracking on an April 2 interim agreement that was meant to lay the ground for a final deal. “Suddenly everyone has their own red lines. Britain has its red line, the U.S. has its red line, France, Germany,” the official said. Back in Iran, Friday provided a reminder of the depth of more than three decades of enmity between Iran and the West that a deal could help overcome. Iranians rallied for the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, observed in Iran as “Qods Day” or “Death to Israel day,” to show support for Palestinians, protest against Israel and chant slogans against the “Great Satan” United States. Western countries suspect Iran of seeking the capability to make nuclear weapons.
Iran says it has the right to peaceful nuclear technology. Over the past two years, the nuclear talks have brought about the first intensive direct diplomacy between the United States and Iran since Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held hostages for over a year. A successful outcome would be a triumph both for U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist elected in 2013 on a pledge to reduce Iran’s international isolation. Optimists say a deal could help reshape Middle East alliances at a time when Washington and Tehran face a common foe in the Sunni ISIS But both presidents face skepticism from powerful hardliners at home, making it difficult to bridge final differences.
