The goal is a six-month agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear program
while offering Iran incentives through limited sanctions relief. If
the interim deal holds, the parties would negotiate final stage
deals to ensure Iran does not build nuclear weapons.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke of "very difficult
negotiations, saying "narrow gaps" remain on the same issues that
blocked agreement at the last round earlier this month.
"We're not here because things are necessarily finished," Hague told
reporters. "We're here because they're difficult, and they remain
difficult."
Kerry and his counterparts from Russia, Britain, France, China and
Germany headed for Geneva after diplomats said Friday that Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and top European Union
diplomat Catherine Ashton had made progress on a key sticking point
— Iran's claim to a right to produce nuclear fuel through uranium
enrichment.
Details were not released but it appeared the two sides were trying
to reconcile Iran's insistence that it has a right to enrich for
peaceful purposes while assuaging fears that Tehran was secretly
trying to build a bomb, a charge the Iranians deny.
As the talks entered an intensive phase, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei said the negotiations had reached "the final
moment," according to China's Xinhua news agency.
Others were less upbeat.
Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle spoke of "a realistic
chance" for a deal "but there is still a lot of work to do." Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA-Novosti news agency
that negotiations were very close to a breakthrough but
"unfortunately I cannot say that there is assurance of achieving
this breakthrough."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters he wanted "a
deal — but a solid deal — and I am here to work toward that end."
France's concern that the negotiators were rushing into a flawed
deal with Iran helped delay an agreement during a session nearly two
weeks ago.
Other obstacles include Iran's plutonium reactor under construction
in Arak as well as a formula for providing limited sanctions relief
without weakening international leverage against Iran.
Enrichment is a hot-button issue because it can be used both to make
reactor fuel and to make nuclear weapons. Iran argues it is
enriching only for power, and scientific and medical purposes, and
says it has no interest in nuclear arms.
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Washington and its allies point to Tehran's earlier efforts to hide
enrichment and allege it worked on developing such weapons.
Iran has insisted on that right throughout almost a decade of mostly
fruitless negotiations. But Zarif last weekend indicated that Iran
is ready to sign a deal that does not expressly state that claim.
Iranian hard-liners are suspicious of talk of nuclear compromise
since moderate President Hassan Rouhani took office in September,
fearing his team will give not get enough in terms of sanctions
relief over the six-months of any first-stage agreement.
Several U.S. senators — both Democrat and Republican — have voiced
displeasure with the parameters of the potential agreement, arguing
that the U.S. and its partners are offering too much for something
short of a full freeze on uranium enrichment.
On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said
his country would never compromise on "red lines." Since then Tehran
has publicly reverted to its original stance — that the six powers
must recognize uranium enrichment as Iran's right, despite strong
opposition by Israel and within the U.S. Congress.
Still, comments from Iranian officials in Geneva indicated that
reverting to tough talk on enrichment may be at least partially
meant for home consumption.
In Geneva, a senior Iranian negotiator said the Iranian claim to the
right to enrich did not need to be explicitly recognized in any
initial deal, despite Khamenei's comment, adding that the supreme
leader was not planning to intervene in the talks. He did suggest,
however, that language on that point remained difficult and that
there were other differences.
The negotiator demanded anonymity because he was not allowed to
discuss the confidential talks.
[Associated
Press; JAMEY KEATEN and
JOHN HEILPRIN]
Associated Press writers
Deb Riechmann and George Jahn in Geneva, and Robert H. Reid in
Berlin contributed to this report.
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