28 Mar 2024
Saturday 28 March 2015 - 16:32
Story Code : 157204

Foreign ministers arrive amid crucial weekend for Iran nuclear talks

Foreign ministers from nations negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran joined talks on Saturday as grim-looking negotiators suggested they are still far from bridging their differences.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry was scheduled to have a working lunch with the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, who arrived late Saturday morning, and his counterpart from Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was expected later. The foreign ministers from Britain, Russia and China are expected later this weekend.

Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met for a third day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Irans nuclear energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi. They wryly hinted at the long road ahead of them.

When a reporter asked just before the talks began if they were expecting a good day in negotiations, Kerry replied, Were expecting an evening today.

Zarif, on the other side of the table, chimed in, Evening, night, midnight, morning.

The negotiators are facing a deadline of midnight Tuesday for reaching a broad agreement that would outline the conditions for a final deal on limits to Irans nuclear program in exchange for easing international sanctions. An interim agreement does not expire until June 30, so they have another three months to iron out many details.

Since this round of talks began in earnest almost 11/2years ago, the negotiators have talked up to the deadlines and beyond, only to conclude by announcing an extension of the interim agreement and a new deadline. President Obama has said there will be no extension this time, although failure to reach an agreement leaves the interim deal intact for three months.If there is no deal, it would be up to Obama to decide what steps to take next.

The talks are snagged over a number of fundamental gaps, including how much nuclear research and development Iran would be permitted and the pace at which international sanctions against it could be lifted.

Iran wants to continue research so it can modernize its uranium-enriching centrifuges, which use 1970s technology. It insists that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes alone, and its leaders say Islam forbids them from building nuclear weapons.

Iran also wants to see sanctions eased and lifted fairly swiftly. The United States and its negotiating partners are holding out for a gradual easing of sanctions, linked to the pace at which Iran allows international inspectionsof its uranium facilities, mines and mills,and otherwise complies with an agreement.

Kerry wants to return to Washington with an agreement that the administration can defend before skeptics in Congress, showing that the considerable effort his office has exerted in the talks produced a long-lasting, verifiable deal to ensure that Iran does not build nuclear weapons.

The United States is adamant that any deal provide a one-year breakout time, meaning that, through limitations and open inspections, the agreement ensures that it would take at least a full year for Iran to amass enough weapons-grade materials to build a bomb.Many factors go into that, including the number and efficiency of centrifuges, and negotiators say any compromise on one factor requires an offset elsewhere.

Any deal is expected to last for at least 10 years, although the French want a longer time frame.French diplomats have said that they would prefer to keep negotiating even if they do not have an agreement by Tuesday.

This article was written byCarol Morello for The Washington Post on March 28, 2015. Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department. She previously wrote about demographics and the census. She has worked at the Washington Post since 2000.
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