Iran N-talks run into snag
Kerry warns of marked differences as diplomats try to narrow gap on deal
geneva — US Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Friday of significant differences between Iran and six world powers trying to fashion a nuclear agreement, as he and three European foreign ministers added their weight to try to narrow the gap.
Officials had expressed optimism about progress achieved in Thursday’s full day of talks. But comments from Kerry and his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany after they arrived in Geneva clearly indicated that some obstacles remain in the way of any agreement offering sanctions reductions for nuclear concessions. Kerry arrived from Tel Aviv after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where he tried to defuse Israeli concerns about the Geneva talks. Israel is strongly critical of any deal that even slightly lifts sanctions unless Iran is totally stripped of technology that can make nuclear arms.
The talks primarily focus on the size and output of Iran’s enrichment programme, which can create both reactor fuel and weapons-grade material suitable for a nuclear bomb. Iran insists it is pursuing only nuclear energy, medical treatments and research, but the United States and its allies fear that Iran could turn this material into the fissile core of nuclear warheads. Kerry said there were ‘‘some very important issues on the table that are unresolved”.
‘‘There is not an agreement at this point in time,” he told reporters. He planned to meet later with his European counterparts before joint talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Catherine Ashton, the EU’s top diplomat convening the talks.
In earlier comments to Israeli TV, Kerry suggested Washington was looking for an Iranian commitment to stop any expansion of nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons, as a first step. “We are asking them to step up and provide a complete freeze over where they are today,” Kerry said on Thursday. Six powers — the negotiators also include Russia and China — are considering a gradual rollback of sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.