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Negotiators race deadline in Iran talks Negotiators race deadline in Iran talks
(about 11 hours later)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Negotiators from five countries kicked off another frenetic series of talks Sunday in the dash to an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program are focused on the pace at which sanctions and restrictions will be eased, diplomats said Sunday, as Israel’s prime minister predicted that the emerging agreement would help Tehran “conquer” the Middle East.
In an indication of the hectic pace negotiators are keeping up with only three days remaining before a Tuesday deadline, Secretary of State John F. Kerry cancelled an appearance in Boston where he had hoped to attend an event Sunday night and Monday honoring the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. With a deadline of Tuesday night closing in, Secretary of State John F. Kerry held a string of back-to-back meetings with Iranian negotiators and with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union, who all joined the talks over the weekend. The British foreign secretary was expected to arrive later Sunday, creating a joint front in the final push to settle unresolved issues.
Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met early Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, Ali Akbar Salehi. That was followed by a meeting with U.S. and European diplomats. Several of the diplomats, including Kerry, are rearranging their schedules so that they can remain at the talks for several more days.
The halls of the Beau Rivage Palace on the shores of Lake Geneva, where talks are being held, is starting to resemble an outpost of the United Nations as diplomats from other countries negotiating with Iran arrive to join the talks in their final days. The negotiations are growing more intensive, starting early in the morning and continuing until almost midnight. A U.S. official familiar with the talks said it would not be surprising if the negotiations come down to the wire, continuing through deadline day.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi came to Lausanne on Sunday, joining French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who arrived Saturday. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected later in the day. The talks revolve around restrictions Iran would accept on its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of international sanctions, which Iran desperately desires. Negotiations started more than a decade ago, but they picked up momentum a year and a half ago after Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran on a promise to get sanctions relief.
In a sign of the intensifying diplomacy, Iranian Foreign Minister Hassan Rouhani tweeted that he had spoken on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and “we both emphasized resolving nuclear issue & reaching an agreement.” Although nothing is considered settled until the parameters of the entire agreement are outlined, Iran has tentatively agreed that an accord would last 15 years and that sanctions would be eased gradually. Those represent concessions by Tehran, which initially wanted a shorter duration and immediate sanctions relief.
The talks are underway at a feverish pitch in advance of Tuesday’s deadline. The deadline is more political than legal, as an interim agreement is in effect until the end of June. But when that agreement was extended in November, Kerry said that if they didn’t have a framework agreement in place by March, the United States would have to reassess whether to continue the talks that aim to place limits on Iran’s nuclear program in return for easing international sanctions. But differences remain over the details within those areas, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of discussions.
The Obama administration faces intense pressure to produce an agreement that will ensure Iran cannot amass enough material to construct nuclear weapons. Though Iran has insisted its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes, skeptics in Congress and in the Middle East — particularly in Israel and the Persian Gulf — fear any agreement would leave in place the infrastructure to build weapons, giving Iran the ability to cheat. One sticking point is timing: when Iran can expect to see at least some international sanctions lifted, particularly those imposed by the United Nations.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the agreement that is still incomplete and that U.S. officials have cautioned they may not be able to reach. “We all have agreed, including Iran, that there needs to be a phased, step-by-step, reciprocal approach in any understanding that is reached. How we judge that, obviously, may be a little different on different parameters of the agreement, and that’s what a negotiation is all about,” the official said.
“This agreement, as it appears, confirms all of our concerns and even more so,” Netanyahu said at his weekly cabinet meeting. Another persistent disagreement, the official said, involves how much nuclear research and development Iran would be permitted to conduct over the final five years of a 15-year pact. Iran wants to modernize about 6,000 centrifuges it would be allowed to keep operating for civilian purposes.
One of the main unresolved issues is the pace at which international sanctions will be lifted. The United States wants it to be gradual and tied to the degree at which Iran opens its nuclear facilities for international inspection. Iranian negotiators say that there can be no agreement without a quicker phasing out of sanctions. “A lot of other pieces of the puzzle that sit on the table are not yet resolved,” the official said. “But they are the kind of puzzle pieces that most of us think will fall into place more likely than not if we get through some of these really tough, tough issues.”
Some Iranians seem to be betting that sanctions relief is around the corner. As the negotiators pressed on, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed alarm over what he characterized as a ­budding “Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis.”
Ali Tayyeb-Nia, Iran’s minister of economic affairs and finance, said Sunday the country is taking steps to handle anticipated surge in revenue if sanctions are lifted. “This agreement, as it appears, confirms all of our concerns and even more so,” he said at his weekly cabinet meeting.
“Our biggest concern today is that once the sanctions are removed and revenues increase, we fail to properly exploit the incoming petrodollars,” he told the magazine Tejarat-e Farda. Later, Netanyahu continued his criticism of a possible deal during a meeting with a delegation of U.S. senators led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“As Israel and the Arab countries see Iran progressing with its aggression to conquer Yemen and the Bab al-Mandeb straits, talks continue as usual and go on, on a deal that from everything that we hear, paves Iran’s way to the bomb,” he said, according to a transcript released by his office.
“Will the fact that Iran will have now, while it’s still having sanctions, doesn’t yet have an easy path to the bomb, it is conquering the Middle East in ways that are unprecedented?” he continued. “Will this make their move forward more moderate or will it make it more extreme? I think it’s a ­no-brainer.”
McConnell said the visitors he was leading “share your concerns about this potential agreement.” He vowed to bring to a vote a bill requiring congressional approval of any deal. And if the talks collapse without a deal, he said, “ratcheting up sanctions might be the best direction to take.”
Read more:
Iran isn’t providing needed access or information, nuclear watchdog says
Kerry predicts Iran nuclear talks will be settled long before deadline
Netanyahu says U.S. is on verge of ‘bad deal’ with Iran over nuclear program
Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Booth reported from Jerusalem.