Monday, March 16, 2015

Iran, U.S. Resume Nuclear Talks

Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, joined by U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi, resumed nuclear talks in Lausanne on Monday to try to narrow gaps before a 31 March deadline to produce a framework political agreement. The parties have also set a 30 June deadline to finalize an accord. (Reuters, 16 March)

Kerry told CBS News on Sunday that the gaps mostly include “political,” not “technical” issues.

The political matters are normally understood to mean the level and frequency of inspections, possible past military dimensions of the nuclear program, and the speed by which the sanctions are lifted. Technical matters deals with the number of centrifuges Iran can maintain under a final accord, the types of centrifuges, the amount of uranium already enriched that can be held inside Iran, and the amount of plutonium produces at Arak heavy water reactor. (AP, 15 March)

The two sides are apparently in agreement on the technical issues. The British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond was quoted on Monday as saying the two sides were closer than before, but still “a long way to go.”

UPDATE: Iran-US Bilateral meeting ended early Monday afternoon. Zarif will travel to Brussels at 2:30 pm today local time to meet with EU3 foreign ministers and EU foreign policy chief. He will return to Lausanne tonight to resume talks with Kerry. 

Photo credit: Iran, U.S. officials facing the press at Lausanne nuclear talks, from left: U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi (AFP)

4 comments:

Mark Pyruz said...

Salehi stated he was "very optimistic" upon concluding his part of the talks. It's looking more like a historic deal may be struck.

Nader Uskowi said...

And a historic deal this will be.

Anonymous said...

less than 50% chance that the Iranian regime will bend far enough for a deal

Anonymous said...

I am for any deal which will be approved by the UNSC, and at least will free some countries from obligations to keep sanctions on the Islamic Republic very soon.

However, a deep analysis of current and previous events authorizes me to state that at this statge of negotiations, both sides try to keep smiles on their faces and win some credits for good faith negotiations, in order to defeat the other side image on that issue, in case the deal would not materialize itself or be not 'consumed' by its participants, in the future; after it was signed .

A-F, Dissident from usa