US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday said that it was too soon to tell if tough negotiations with Iran on a deal curtailing its nuclear program will succeed.
On the eve of today’s deadline, which everyone has already acknowledged will slip, Kerry met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano.
“We’re just working and it’s too early to make any judgements,” Kerry told reporters when asked if the talks were making progress in Vienna.
Photo: AP
One of the thorniest issues still blocking a deal is ensuring that the UN agency can finally report that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
Iran has long denied seeking to arm itself with a nuclear bomb, but is so far refusing to give the IAEA unparalleled access to sensitive military sites where nuclear research may have been happening.
Global powers — the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US — are seeking to end a 12-year standoff with Iran over its program.
After 20 months of intense talks, which have criss-crossed the globe, the parties have set a deadline of today for a final accord, with several countries saying they are prepared to walk away if Iran cannot meet their demands.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was back in Tehran yesterday after leaving Vienna late on Sunday apparently to consult with the top Islamic leadership, which will have the final say on any deal.
Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes work continued on drawing up what could be one of the world’s most complicated nuclear non-proliferation agreements aimed at putting an atomic bomb out of Iran’s reach.
The text is believed to be at least 20 pages long, accompanied by perhaps as many as five complicated technical annexes.
The deal is unlikely to be reached today, with a US official admitting that everyone was planning to stay beyond the deadline day.
However, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherin spoke for many late on Sunday when she said there would be no formal months-long extension, adding “postponement is not an option.”
“I would say that the political will is there. I’ve seen it from all sides,” Mogherini said, adding “we have conditions now to close the deal” and that there were only a couple of points outstanding which needed political decisions.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong (李保) told reporters in Vienna that a comprehensive deal could be possible within one week, saying all sides were only “steps away,” Xinhua news agency reported.
In other developments, US President Barack Obama recently sent a private message to Iran’s leadership via Iraq’s prime minister, an Iranian newspaper reported yesterday.
Hamshahri, Iran’s highest-circulation daily paper, citing a lawmaker, said “one of the leaders of a neighboring country” took the message from Obama to officials in Tehran.
The subject discussed was the nuclear talks, it said without giving further details on its content.
The newspaper suggested that the message bearer was Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who met Obama on June 8 on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Germany.
In other developments, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday said he planned to meet with Kerry in Vienna today for talks on terrorism and fighting the Islamic State group.
“Our delegation will head to Vienna where tomorrow we have talks planned with John Kerry,” Lavrov said, without referring to the Iran talks under way in Vienna.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS