Monday, 24 November 2014

Iran, West extend nuclear talks to June 2015 after failing to meet deadline

(L-R) US Secretary of State John Kerry, Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammondm, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a picture during their meeting in Vienna on November 24, 2014. AFP / Joe Klamar

Published Monday, November 24, 2014

Al-Akhbar

Updated at 5:00 pm (GMT +2): Iran and world powers failed in an enormous diplomatic push to seal a landmark nuclear deal by its Monday deadline, deciding instead to give themselves seven more months to reach an agreement.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will seek to strike an outline deal by March 1 and to nail down a full technical accord by July 1, officials said.

"We have had to conclude that it is not possible to get to an agreement by the deadline that was set for today (Monday) and therefore we will extend... to June 30 2015," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in Vienna.

"There will be further meetings in December. Our target is to reach a headline agreement, an agreement on the substance, within the next three months or so" and all technical aspects by July 1, he told reporters.

He added that Iran and the powers "made some significant progress" in the latest round of talks, which began last Tuesday in the Austrian capital.

Hammond said that there was a clear target to reach a "headline agreement" of substance within the next three months and talks would resume next month, noting that during the extension period, Tehran will be able to continue to access around $700 million per month in sanctions relief.

A source close to the talks said Vienna and Oman were possible venues for next month's discussions.

An Iranian official confirmed the extension, as did Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who echoed Hammond's comments about "substantial progress.”

In the best chance in years to resolve the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program, the P5+1 have been locked in talks with Iran for months, seeking to turn an interim deal into a lasting accord.

According to the interim deal, agreed between the six and Iran a year ago in Geneva, Iran is expected to curb its disputed nuclear activities in exchange for broad relief from years of heavy international economic sanctions.

Iran says its nuclear program aims to produce atomic energy to reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels, but the West and Israel say the fuel could be enriched to produce a bomb.

Israel has threatened to use military force against Iranian atomic sites if diplomacy fails to ensure Iran is deprived of the means of developing nuclear weapons. Tehran says Israel's presumed atomic arsenal is the main threat to peace.

A deal could begin a process in which the "relationship not just between Iran and US but the relationship between Iran and the world, and the region, begins to change," US President Barack Obama said in an ABC News interview Sunday.

But a last-ditch diplomatic blitz in Vienna in recent days involving Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and other foreign ministers appeared to have failed to bridge the remaining major differences.

Gaps on crucial points

Diplomats on both sides say that despite progress, the two sides remain far apart on two crucial points: the number and type of uranium-enriching centrifuges Iran should be allowed to keep spinning, the process for relieving sanctions and the duration of the final deal.

Enriching uranium renders it suitable for peaceful purposes like nuclear power but also, at high purities, for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon.

Tehran wants to massively ramp up the number of enrichment centrifuges in order, it says, to make fuel for a fleet of power reactors that is yet to be built.

The West wants them dramatically reduced, a move which, together with more stringent UN inspections and an export of Iran's uranium stocks, would make any attempt to make the bomb all but impossible.

Moreover, Iran wants a quick and total lifting of UN and Western sanctions that have strangled its vital oil trade, but the powers want to stagger any relief over a long period to ensure Tehran complies with any deal.

Also Iran has asked for a time frame of five years to relieve sanctions, but world powers have suggested at least double that.

(Reuters, AFP, Al-Akhbar)

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