By Jo Biddle and Simon Sturdee
Global powers wrestling for a historic nuclear deal with Iran gave themselves yet more time Tuesday (local time) after foreign ministers failed to bridge what one diplomat called "very, very, very tough" remaining issues.
Iran and the P5+1 group - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - effectively gave themselves until Friday to agree a deal by extending the terms of a 2013 interim accord under which Iran has been curtailing its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
"Removing the remaining brackets (in the text of the agreement), this seems to be very, very, very tough," the senior diplomat said as an 11th day of talks stretched late into the night in Vienna.
But the envoy insisted the negotiations are "not an open-ended process. We've given ourselves a couple more days because we think it can be done."
This was rammed home by a second diplomat, who said the new target date - the latest in a string of postponements in almost two years of talks seeking to end a 13-year standoff - is the "final" one.
"It's difficult to see why and how we could go on any longer. Either this works in the next 48 hours or it doesn't," the second diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
"We have never been closer, than we've ever been on this agreement, and we are still not where we need to be to finalise a deal," a senior US administration official said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry remained in Vienna with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Their Russian, Chinese, French and British counterparts had already left. The latter two said they would return to the Austrian capital on Wednesday evening.
For many observers July 9 had always been the real deadline, and the US team now has its back against the wall trying to nail down the final details by then.
If Kerry fails to hand over a deal by the end of Thursday, US lawmakers will get 60 days instead of 30 to review it, which risks further complicating its implementation.
The mooted deal would curb Iran's nuclear program for a decade or more in order to make any push to make nuclear weapons - it denies any such aim - virtually impossible.
In return painful sanctions on Iran would be progressively lifted.
Despite progress on a series of complicated annexes, negotiations have stalled on how to ease sanctions against Iran, probing allegations that in the past Tehran sought to develop nuclear arms, and ensuring Iran can continue to have a modest, peaceful nuclear program.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed there was also disagreement over the issue of lifting of a UN conventional arms embargo which bans sales of convention weapons such as tanks and missiles to Tehran.
The arms embargo was not overly important as Iran had developed its own industry, but global powers "must change their approach on sanctions if they want a deal," Iran's lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi said late on Tuesday, saying the UN ban had to be changed.
"Western nations must be prepared to give up sanctions," Araghchi said
AFP
