5P+1 And Iran Have Work To Do To Completed Deal
An accord to curb Iran’s nuclear program is still in the future due to disagreements on fundamental issues, France’s foreign minister said Saturday in Vienna, just days before the 30 June deadline for a deal.
Laurent Fabius spoke to reporters upon arrival in the Austrian capital after top US and Iranian diplomats said hard work is needed for what could be the final negotiations to bridge significant differences.
“What we want is a robust deal that recognizes Iran’s right to civil nuclear power, but guarantees that Iran gives up definitively the nuclear weapon,” Mr. Fabius said.
“These three conditions respect Iran’s sovereignty. They have still not been accepted by everybody, yet they form the key base of the triangle that forms the robust agreement that we want,” he said.
The self-imposed deadline for a deal under which Iran would pare its nuclear program in exchange for relief from the Western economic sanctions, expires Tuesday.
“We have a lot of hard work to do. We have some very tough issues,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said according to a State Department draft transcript.
“I agree. Maybe not on the issues. But on the fact that we need to work really hard in order to be able to make progress and move forward,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was cited as saying in the transcript.
Nonetheless, Sec. Kerry also said he was “hopeful” of a successful outcome. His meeting with Mr. Zarif ended after 90 mins.
The main differences are on the pace and timing of sanctions relief for Iran in return for its steps to restrain its nuclear program and on the nature of monitoring mechanisms to ensure Tehran does not cheat on any agreement.
US and European negotiators also want to ensure there is a mechanism for restoring US, European Union and United Nations sanctions if Iran fails to meet its commitments under any future accord aimed at ending a 12-yr nuclear standoff between Iran and the West.
The United States, Israel and some Western nations fear that Iran has been trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability but Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes only.
In addition to Iran and the United States, the talks include Britain, China, France, Germany andRussia. Foreign ministers from all the nations, as well as the EU foreign policy chief, are expected in Vienna in the coming days.
In November 2014, the 5P+1 powers and Iran set a late March deadline for a framework agreement, which reached on 2 April, and a 30 June deadline for a comprehensive deal.
The real deadline is not 30 June but 9 July, according some of the diplomats .
The US delegation must present the deal to Congress by 9 July if a mandatory congressional review period before President Barack Obama can begin suspending sanctions is to be limited to 30 days. After 9 July, the review will last 60 days, according to a law passed recently by US legislators.
Negotiators fear that such a lengthy delay, which would also hold up the cancellation of United Nations nuclear-related sanctions by the UN Security Council, would be too long and would create the opportunity for any deal agreed in Vienna to unravel.
By Reza Hashami, CEO, Global Modern Insurance, Inc.
Paul Ebeling, Editor
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