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Final make-or-break moment for Iran nuclear talks Final make-or-break moment for Iran nuclear talks
(about 9 hours later)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The Iran nuclear talks resumed Thursday morning, the final round in a make-or-break moment with negotiators poised to either strike a historic deal or head home empty-handed. LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The United States and Iran proceeded on Thursday with a final round of talks on Iran’s nuclear future, even as they backed opposing sides in a war for control of Yemen.
U.S. negotiators, led by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, sat down with the Iranian team headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also attended, as did his counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. At the head of the table was Helga Schmid, the deputy secretary general of the European Union. Meetings, the first after a week’s break, resumed between Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also attended, as did his counterpart on the Iranian side, Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Helga Schmid, the deputy secretary general of the European Union.
In the first meeting after a one-week break over the start of the Persian new year, the negotiators appeared eager to get going. Kerry tapped his pencil on the table and neither the Americans nor the Iranians answered questions about the crisis in Yemen before reporters were ushered out so the talks could begin. As a backdrop to the talks, events were rapidly spiraling downward in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Persian Gulf launched a series of air attacks early Thursday in Yemen against the Houthi rebels that Iran supports. Before he met with Zarif, Kerry took part in a conference call with foreign ministers from the Arab states in the Gulf Cooperation Council, praising their offensive, and the White House announced that the United States will provide intelligence and logistical support to their military operation in Yemen.
U.S. officials are uncertain how the next six days will unfold before a deadline for an agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program and easing sanctions. Without dropping a beat, they swing between confidence and caution, alternately asserting they are closer to a deal than ever, but it could fall apart in the final stretch. [Read: Saudi Arabia targets strategic areas around Yemen in heavy bombardment]
Meanwhile, Zarif told Iranian reporters in Lausanne that Shia Iran was demanding Sunni Saudi Arabia call a halt to the air strikes.
“The Saudi-led air strikes should stop immediately, and it is against Yemen's sovereignty,” he was quoted saying in the Iranian media. “We will make all efforts to control the crisis in Yemen.”
But the diplomats made a determined effort to avoid bringing the war in Yemen inside the negotiating room as they tried to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program by a March 31 deadline.
A senior State Department official said the situation in Yemen had “no impact” on the nuclear talks. When reporters asked Kerry and Zarif about Yemen during a brief photo shoot ahead of the talks, both men refused to answer.
“They’re showing a willingness to compartmentalize it,” said Frederic Wehrey, a scholar with the Middle East Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “I’m not sure Iran is willing to hitch the outcome of the talks to this somewhat peripheral conflict.”
Wehrey compared the diplomacy involved to four-dimensional chess.
“We’re bombing in support of Iran in Tikrit, we’re opposing them in Yemen, and we’re negotiating with them on the nuclear files,” he said. “That’s the complexity we’re dealing with. It’s strange. But the tension only manifests itself if the players allow it to.”
The Iran nuclear talks, which started over a decade ago and picked up momentum about 18 months ago when an interim agreement was signed, are reaching a culmination. The United States and Iran have both said they want to have a framework agreement by March 31, next Tuesday. Some of the other countries negotiating with the United States, however, have said they consider the real deadline to be the end of June, when the interim pact expires. France, in particular, has been outspoken in saying there is no need to rush because there are still large areas of disagreement.
The goal of the talks is to impose limits on Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran says is only used for peaceful, civilian purposes. The United States, which is negotiating together with France, Britain, Germany, China and Russia, wants to block Iran’s potential to use the technology for nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials swing between confidence and caution, alternately asserting that they are closer to a deal than ever but that it could fall apart in the final stretch.
“We can see a path forward to get an agreement,” said a senior State Department official traveling with Kerry. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll get there.”“We can see a path forward to get an agreement,” said a senior State Department official traveling with Kerry. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll get there.”
After months of talks, as time is running out now, the final sessions are open-ended. Iran’s Salehi told reporters in Lausanne that he was “optimistic” about the chances for a deal, though he has made similar analyses before, only to have the talks break off with major issues unresolved.
Wendy Sherman, undersecretary for the political affairs who has taken a lead role in negotiating with Iran, flew to Switzerland a day ahead of Kerry, meeting with deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to plot out a rough work schedule. Kerry’s schedule lists one item, every day – negotiations with the Iranians. ​ This week is considered critical. When the last round of talks ended a week ago, Kerry and the European foreign ministers issued a joint statement saying important issues were not settled and that it was time for Iran to make “difficult decisions.” Reporters were confined to a separate wing of the Beau Rivage Palace, the hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva where the talks are taking place, so it was difficult to tell if any progress was made on Thursday.
The talks – which have many skeptics in the Persian Gulf, Israel and Capitol Hill – are supposed to end with a framework agreement that addresses all the major elements of a final deal that has taken over a decade to pull together. But in a hint that the negotiating parties are preparing for an agreement, or perhaps just getting impatient, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced he would be coming to Lausanne on Saturday. His counterparts from the other countries, whose presence would be needed to sign an agreement, are likely to want to be in Lausanne, as well. And Kerry has an engagement Sunday night, though his office says the nuclear talks take priority.
If they succeed, Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes, would come with international monitoring and conditions that hamper its ability to build a bomb. In return, sanctions would be eased, making Iran less isolated in the world. Read more:
The clearest sign of an impending agreement would be the arrival of foreign ministers from five other countries negotiating together with the United States – Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany. For the time being, however, they are on standby until they are called to sign an agreement. Iran isn’t providing needed access or information, nuclear watchdog says
Previously, negotiations stretched up to the deadline and even beyond, before ending in a new, extended deadline. This time, the administration says there will be no extension. Israel seeks an ally in France to oppose Iran deal
An agreement would not mean the end of talks. Many details still would have to be ironed out. They could potentially announce, for example, that Iran agrees to open its nuclear facilities to international inspections. Exactly how the inspections will be conducted would have to be negotiated before an interim agreement expires in late June. Officials: U.S. considers letting Iran run nuclear centrifuges at fortified underground bunker
It’s also unclear what form an agreement might take.
U.S. officials have said they want something written down on paper, filled with details, so people can pick it apart and judge it.
“The goal is to get as many specifics nailed down with the Iranians, and whatever we can say specifically,” said the State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules for talking to reporters.
U.S. negotiators hope to be able to make public the numbers, such as the total and type of uranium-enriching centrifuges that Iran would be permitted to operate.
They also hope an agreement this month could outline how they propose to lock in a one-year “break out” period, referring to how long it would take for Iran to amass enough material to build one nuclear warhead, and what research and development Iran would be permitted to conduct to build more modern and efficient nuclear technology. They also hope to spell out the most important issue for Iranians — when can they expect to see sanctions relaxed.