Iran to miss nuke deadline
DEAL: MEETING WITH WORLD POWERS AMID SIGNS TIME IS RUNNING OUT
Muscat
Iran and world powers met in Muscat yesterday amid growing signs a long-bargained deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme will not be struck by a deadline of November 24.
The one-day meeting comes after lengthy discussions between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif broke off in the Gulf sultanate late on Monday with no signs of progress.
Yesterday’s meeting between Iran’s nuclear negotiating team and officials from the P5+1 – the US, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany – were scheduled to brief the P5+1 members on Kerry and Zarif’s talks, but Iranian and US officials indicated big obstacles stood in the way of a final agreement.
The West still appears unconvinced of Iran’s reassurances it has not sought and will not attempt to develop an atomic bomb, while Tehran wants greater assurances on when sanctions will be lifted, as well as fewer curbs on its nuclear activities.
The US State Department said the head-to-head meetings – more than 10 hours over two days – proved “tough, direct and serious”, adding “there is still time” for progress.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, quoted by state media, was more candid.
“To reach a result by November 24 is very difficult, but we do not despair,” he said.
Kerry, now in Beijing, will speak to President Barack Obama as well as White House national security adviser Susan Rice about the talks with Zarif.
In Muscat, the Iranian delegation also held bilateral talks with Russia and China, with similar discussions with Britain, France and Germany scheduled for later in the day. –