VIENNA: Iran’s foreign minister warned yesterday that a “lot of effort” was still needed as he joined negotiators from six world powers in Vienna to begin drafting a potentially historic nuclear deal.
“Preparing the draft agreement is a task that requires a lot of effort,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said after touching down in the Austrian capital where talks resume in earnest today.
“If there are differences of opinion, which definitely exist, we will spend time to resolve them,” he said, according to Iranian media.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany want Iran to reduce the scope of its nuclear programme to make it practically impossible for Iran to make a nuclear weapon undetected.
In return the Islamic republic, which denies wanting the bomb and says its aims are purely peaceful, wants all UN and Western sanctions lifted.
A senior US official yesterday cautioned against excessive optimism regarding six world powers’ nuclear talks with Iran, but added that it was possible to overcome disputes and reach a deal by their self-imposed July 20 deadline.
“There are some very significant gaps,” the official said on condition of anonymity. However, “we can get to a resolution I believe.”
If the negotiators can manage to get a deal, this could finally resolve a stand-off that has been simmering and threatening to escalate into conflict for the past decade.
“If the odds of the talks collapsing are high, the stakes of failure are higher,” Ali Vaez, Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, said. “Time is of the essence.”
Three previous rounds this year served to “review all of the issues and to understand each other’s positions,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.
“And the next step is to begin to see if a text can be drafted. And that is something that presents obviously challenges,” Carney told reporters.
“We hope the leadership in Tehran has given the entire delegation ... instructions making it possible to move forward,” Moscow’s negotiator Sergei Ryabkov told the Voice of Russia.
The parties aim to build on an interim deal struck in Geneva in November under which Iran froze certain activities for six months in return for minor sanctions relief. The six months end on July 20.
Turning the Geneva deal into something permanent is a tall order, however, particularly with hardliners in the United States, Iran and Israel watching closely.
“Discussions on enrichment are and will be difficult,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told an American Jewish lobby group, AJC Global Jewish Advocacy, on Monday.
Other hurdles include Iran’s development of ballistic missiles and long-standing questions from the IAEA about “possible military dimensions” to Iran’s nuclear work in the past.
A meeting on Monday between the IAEA and Iran on this made little headway, with the atomic watchdog saying that while Iran has taken “several actions” in other areas “work continues”.
Some progress was made last year when Iran promised to clarify its need for Exploding Bridge Wire detonators, which could theoretically be used in a bomb but which also have other applications.
According to diplomats in Vienna, Iran has yet to convince the IAEA on the detonators issue — which is only the first step — ahead of tomorrows deadline.
“If things were on track, the agency and Iran would have agreed, or would be on the cusp of agreeing, the next round of measures,” one Vienna diplomat said.
AFP
