We are not gonna shave anywhere at the margins just to get an agreement”, Kerry said, adding that “we’re not there yet, I emphasise that”. He said that while negotiators have made progress, major points of contention remained. Most major elements of the agreement under negotiation run for 10 years while others extend to 15. “But if they are not made, we will not”.
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Western observers suggested the statement from Kerry was designed to provide cover for the administration if a deal with wide-ranging concessions to Iran is struck.
Under the mooted accord, building on a deal from April, sanctions suffocating the Iranian economy will be progressively lifted if Teheran massively scales down its nuclear programme for at least a decade.
On the issue of whether Democrats would vote against President Obama on the deal, Klobuchar said they have voted against him in the past.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused the six world powers of dangerously caving to Iran’s every demand. “That is why the ministers are here”, he said. “We understand it’s a hard decision they have to make”.
“The principle question is to see whether Iran will accept to make clear commitments on what has not been clarified”. Reuters reports that with negotiations underway in the city, business for brothels (which are legal in Austria) has been “booming”.
Progress has been reported in two key areas; the pace of sanctions relief and a probe into whether Tehran’s nuclear activities in the past has involved the development of technology to produce nuclear weapons.
While the State Department had called for dismantling Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in the past, the Obama administration softened that line in the several months since a framework agreement was announced at Lausanne, Switzerland.
Kerry’s team is under pressure domestically to conclude any deal by Thursday at the latest. After that, the review would last 60 days, with growing risks a deal could unravel.
But the USA was prepared to walk away “if we don’t have a deal and there is absolute intransigence and unwillingness to move on the things that are important”.
“While I completely agree… that we have never been closer, at this point this negotiation could go either way”. We are not going to be negotiating in the press.
The negotiator said his country didn’t want its diplomatic partners to seek another formal extension of the talks.
Foreign ministers not in Vienna were expected to rejoin their counterparts in a final push for a deal. But Tehran is still stopping short of allowing inspectors into all suspected nuclear sites, including military installations.
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Lifting the arms embargo would be separate from a long-term accord that foresees limits on Iran’s nuclear programs in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic. “Some differences remain and we are trying and working hard”, Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters prior to Monday’s session.
