More Iran nuclear talks amid fears of no progress

Top US diplomat John Kerry met Friday for the second day with his Iranian counterpart as global powers grapple for an elusive nuclear deal amid fears little progress is being made. Speaking just before huddling again with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Kerry told a meeting at the UN on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that Washington still believed an accord was possible by a November deadline. Dismissing skepticism about the twists and turns of the complex negotiations led by a group of nations known as the P5+1, Kerry added that the talks had already borne fruit: “The interim agreement that we struck with Iran… has made the world safer because a nuclear stockpile that was at 20 percent has been reduced.”

The remaining time for reaching an agreement is extremely short. Progress that has been witnessed in the last few days has been extremely slow.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

Under a 2013 interim deal, Iran agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program and allow daily inspections of some nuclear sites in return for a partial release of billions of dollars from blocked oil revenues. The final deal would aim to ease fears Iran is seeking to develop an atomic bomb, by expanding the time needed for Tehran to make such a weapon and allowing for a tough monitoring regime by the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA. One of the thorniest issues is the question of enrichment. The West wants Iran to dismantle all but a few thousand of its 19,000 centrifuges which can be used to develop weapons-grade uranium. But Iran bristles at destroying machines in which it has invested billions of dollars, and says it should retain the right to enrich for its civilian nuclear energy program.

Middle East