Reuters, Switzerland :
Major powers and Iran were pushing each other for concessions on Friday ahead of an end-March deadline for a preliminary nuclear deal, with Tehran demanding an immediate end to sanctions and freedom to continue sensitive atomic research, officials said.
Tehran and six major powers-the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China-are meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, to hammer out a political framework accord by the end of this month that would lay the foundations for a full deal by June 30.
Under a final settlement, Tehran would halt sensitive nuclear work for at least a decade and in exchange, international financial and oil sanctions on Iran would be lifted. This would aim to end the country’s 12-year nuclear standoff with the West and reduce the risk of war in the Middle East.
While all sides agree they have been inching closer to a deal, there are major disagreements that have prevented a resolution.
Tehran insists on the freedom to continue research on advanced centrifuges, machines that purify uranium for use in nuclear power plants or, if very highly enriched, in weapons, at an underground facility, and the immediate lifting of all UN sanctions and the most severe US and European Union sanctions.
“There has been massive progress on all the issues,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters. “There are still disputes over two issues-R&D (research and development) and UN sanctions.”
A Western official close to the talks confirmed that from his side, centrifuge research and enrichment in general remained the most difficult unresolved issue: “The essential
element for us is R&D, and enrichment.” The United States and European partners are reluctant to allow Iran to operate centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment site, Western officials said, adding that the issue was unresolved.
An Iranian government website said in November that Washington could let Iran keep some 6,000 early-generation centrifuges, down from nearly 10,000 now in operation out of under 20,000 installed.
After meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters outside the 19th century hotel on the banks of Lake Geneva where the talks are taking place that it was unclear if there would be a deal in the coming days.
“The negotiations are difficult and complicated and there are highs and lows,” Zarif said. “We think an agreement is still possible but when is another story. Our feeling is that we certainly will be able to reach an agreement, but that will need political will on the other side.”
Zarif added that the issue of the Saudi-led military operations against Yemen’s Houthi fighters, which Tehran has backed, had come up on the sidelines, though the Lausanne talks were exclusively focused on the nuclear issue.
Major powers and Iran were pushing each other for concessions on Friday ahead of an end-March deadline for a preliminary nuclear deal, with Tehran demanding an immediate end to sanctions and freedom to continue sensitive atomic research, officials said.
Tehran and six major powers-the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China-are meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, to hammer out a political framework accord by the end of this month that would lay the foundations for a full deal by June 30.
Under a final settlement, Tehran would halt sensitive nuclear work for at least a decade and in exchange, international financial and oil sanctions on Iran would be lifted. This would aim to end the country’s 12-year nuclear standoff with the West and reduce the risk of war in the Middle East.
While all sides agree they have been inching closer to a deal, there are major disagreements that have prevented a resolution.
Tehran insists on the freedom to continue research on advanced centrifuges, machines that purify uranium for use in nuclear power plants or, if very highly enriched, in weapons, at an underground facility, and the immediate lifting of all UN sanctions and the most severe US and European Union sanctions.
“There has been massive progress on all the issues,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters. “There are still disputes over two issues-R&D (research and development) and UN sanctions.”
A Western official close to the talks confirmed that from his side, centrifuge research and enrichment in general remained the most difficult unresolved issue: “The essential
element for us is R&D, and enrichment.” The United States and European partners are reluctant to allow Iran to operate centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment site, Western officials said, adding that the issue was unresolved.
An Iranian government website said in November that Washington could let Iran keep some 6,000 early-generation centrifuges, down from nearly 10,000 now in operation out of under 20,000 installed.
After meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters outside the 19th century hotel on the banks of Lake Geneva where the talks are taking place that it was unclear if there would be a deal in the coming days.
“The negotiations are difficult and complicated and there are highs and lows,” Zarif said. “We think an agreement is still possible but when is another story. Our feeling is that we certainly will be able to reach an agreement, but that will need political will on the other side.”
Zarif added that the issue of the Saudi-led military operations against Yemen’s Houthi fighters, which Tehran has backed, had come up on the sidelines, though the Lausanne talks were exclusively focused on the nuclear issue.
