John Kerry continued to observe that any deal must be fully verified by a group of worldwide nonproliferation experts, and, “Most importantly, President Obama has made it clear we have to close off the four pathways to the potential of a bomb”.
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He added: “If there’s absolute intransigence… we’ll be prepared to walk away”.
Iran would, however, engage in limited research and development with its advanced centrifuges according to a plan “agreed to” by the major powers. The Middle East region is unstable enough without considering nuclear activities, and as the USA grapples for control, there is a genuine concern that Iran needs to be tamed in order to set a precedent, and prevent a downward spiral of chaos.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it would take courage and compromise to reach a deal. As the sides failed to meet the deadline, they extended the negotiations for one more week.
Its Mr. Cerens estimate that such an option would be more attractive to the Obama administration than taking another 2 or 3 weeks. Writes he: If the administration sends Congress a deal after July 9 then the Corker clock how long a deal sits in front of Congress goes from 30 days to 60 days. “I emphasize that”, Kerry told reporters.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the progressing talks in Vienna do not represent a “breakthrough but rather a breakdown”. But they’ve also fiercely defended their overtures to Tehran and their willingness to allow the Iranians to maintain significant nuclear infrastructure, on the argument that a diplomatic agreement is preferable to military conflict. “Some differences remain and we are trying and working hard”, Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters.
The two men – who share strong ties to MIT, where Salehi earned his PhD and Moniz taught – have become so close that Moniz has occasionally joined Salehi in the Iranian dining room for dessert or, as on Friday night, a dinner of kabobs and a Persian stew called fesenjan.
Low-enriched uranium can be further enriched to make fissile material for an atomic bomb, and one of the main goals of any nuclear deal is to restrain Iran’s production of it.
The United States and its allies fear Iran is using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability.
In parallel with the powers’ talks, delegates from the global Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were due to hold talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday, following a visit from IAEA chief Yukiya Amano last week.
The senior Iranian official quoted in Vienna indicated that the US demands might not be acceptable, adding that the United Nations Security Council’s perception of Iran needed to change to support a nuclear accord.
“They are down to implementation details that can be resolved”, said Daryl G.
Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, said she was still “optimistic” that a deal could be finalized by Tuesday. “The fundamental issues have been addressed”. It is not just Munich of which we think.
Another key issue is the sequencing of the deal.
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The comments came after a day of talks between the foreign ministers of Iran and six major powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France – in the Austrian capital.
