Kerry to Stay at Talks Till at Least Early Thursday, Iran Urges Powers to 'Seize' Moment

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will stay in negotiations with Iran and his counterparts until at least Thursday morning, as they seek to reach a deal on the Iranian nuclear program, Washington said on Wednesday, as Tehran urged global powers to "seize" the moment.

"We continue to make progress, but have not reached a political understanding. Therefore, Secretary Kerry will remain in Lausanne until at least Thursday morning to continue the negotiations," U.S. State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

The White House earlier said progress was still being made in the crunch talks, but warned the United States would walk away if negotiations stall.

"The sense that we have is that, yes, the talks continue to be productive and that progress is being made," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"As long as we are in a position of convening serious talks that are making progress," Earnest said the United States "would not arbitrarily or abruptly end them." 

"But if we are in a situation where we sense that the talks have stalled then yes, the United States and the international community is prepared to walk away."

Marathon negotiations are taking place in Lausanne, Switzerland, between Iran and six world powers including the United States.

A historic deal is being held up by arguments over the mechanism for lifting crippling sanctions against the Islamic republic.

The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany want Iran to scale down its nuclear program to extend the "breakout" time needed for it to assemble enough nuclear material to make a bomb.

Earnest said President Barack Obama would make a public address when negotiations conclude, whether successful or not.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged global powers to "seize" the moment to reach a deal.

"Iran has shown its readiness to engage with dignity and it's time for our negotiating partners to seize the moment and use this opportunity which may not be repeated," Zarif said, after meeting alone with Kerry.

He was speaking as exhausting, marathon talks again went into the evening on the seventh day of negotiations in a luxury lakeside hotel in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

"We are negotiating with six countries with different interests, different positions and relations with the Islamic Republic. Sometimes they have different points of view," Zarif said.

Iran denies wanting the bomb and its negotiators are under strict orders from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to refuse any curtailing of its programme without sanctions relief.

Zarif said his country wanted "an entente with the world but it will not accept submitting to force and will not accept excessive demands."

Global powers have always refused an immediate lifting of all sanctions in order to be able to swiftly put them back into place if Iran violates the deal.

The stakes are high, with fears that failure may set the United States and Israel on a road to military action to thwart Iran's nuclear drive.

"Our friends need to decide whether they want to be with Iran based on respect or whether they want to continuebased on pressure," Zarif said.

"They have tested the other one. It is high time to test this one."

The French foreign ministry said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is returning Wednesday to the Switzerland talks.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said earlier Wednesday that Fabius would return to Lausanne, joining Kerry and Britain's Philip Hammond, "once (the talks) enter a decisive stage."

Speaking after Iran and major powers missed a midnight deadline to agree the outlines of a potentially historic accord, Iran's chief negotiator appeared hopeful.

"We believe that at the end of the day we will be able to come to a conclusion and a resolution for all issues," Abbas Araghchi said in a live interview with Iranian state television from Lausanne.

He said he expected a press statement to be released, but repeated that global powers and Iran were still haggling over two main sticking points -- a mechanism for lifting crippling sanctions against the Islamic republic and the country's research ands development programme.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped "that we will reach a compromise today which meets the conditions we have laid down, which means Iran has no access to a nuclear weapon."

Araghchi offered some specifics, saying "in the first step of the deal, we are eager for all sanctions including economic, financial, oil and bank" to be lifted.

The stakes are high, with fears that failure may set the United States and Israel on a road to military action to thwart Iran's nuclear drive.

The White House warned again Tuesday that the military option to deprive the Islamic republic of nuclear arms remained "on the table."

- Contradictory signals -

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had raised hopes in the early hours Wednesday of "an agreement in principle on all key aspects of the final settlement."

But a senior US State Department official said tersely: "All issues have not been agreed."

An "optimistic" Hammond said Wednesday a "broad framework of understanding" had been reached, but he also said there were "some key issues that have to be worked through."

Coming away from Lausanne with a deal meant "the Iranians being willing to meet us where there are still issues to deal with," Hammond told British media. 

Hawkish French FM Fabius, who along with Lavrov and China's Wang Yi have now left the talks, said progress so far was "not enough."

Kerry, who on Wednesday went into his first bilateral meeting with Zarif in several days, overnight briefed U.S. President Barack Obama and his national security team on the negotiations by secure video conference.

If the outlines under negotiation fall short of firm commitments by Iran, Obama could find it hard to fend off attempts by his Republican opponents to pass fresh sanctions on Tehran.

Iran's negotiators are also under pressure from domestic hardliners not to give too much away while also delivering on President Hassan Rouhani's promise to win the lifting of sanctions.

U.S. Republicans fear that Iran will still be able to get the bomb -- a concern shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons itself.

Netanyahu, in his fourth broadside in as many days, warned Wednesday against a bad deal that would "endanger Israel, and the Middle East and the peace of the world."

Some areas of the mooted deal, including the future size of Iran's uranium enrichment capacity, appear to have been tentatively sewn up.

But the two sides still appear to be discussing other areas, including sanctions relief, what to do with Iran's stockpiles of nuclear material, and how long the deal should last.

Comments 1
Missing mohammad_ca almost 9 years

Whatever happened to the US being "the Great Satan"?