Iran nuke talks stretch into overtime

Kerry stays put as U.S. cites progress, sticking points

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday in Washington that “it’s time for Iran to make the serious commitments that they know the international community is expecting them to make.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday in Washington that “it’s time for Iran to make the serious commitments that they know the international community is expecting them to make.”

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers pushed past a self-imposed deadline and into overtime today as negotiators renewed marathon efforts to hammer out the outline of an agreement.

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AP

Secretary of State John Kerry (second left), who had planned to leave the Iran nuclear talks Tuesday, decided to stay on in Switzerland as negotiations pushed past a self-imposed deadline.

Enough progress had been made to warrant the extension past midnight Tuesday, State Department spokesman Marie Harf said, although there still were "several difficult issues" to bridge.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who had planned to leave the talks Tuesday, was remaining. And an Iranian negotiator said his team could stay "as long as necessary" to clear the remaining hurdles to craft an outline that would allow the sides to continue negotiations until the June 30 final deadline.

The decision came after six days of efforts to reach a preliminary understanding by midnight Tuesday, drawing in foreign ministers from all seven nations at the table -- Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

The U.S. and its negotiating partners demand curbs on Iranian nuclear activities that could lead to the creation of weapons, and they say any agreement must extend the time Tehran would need to produce a weapon from the present several months to at least a year.

The Iranians deny such military intentions, but they are negotiating with the aim that a deal will end sanctions on their economy.

After more than a decade of diplomatic efforts to limit Tehran's nuclear advances, the present talks already had been extended twice, demonstrating the difficulties of reaching an agreement that meets the demands of both sides.

In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested that talks so far had not bridged all gaps. He said the sides were working to produce a text with few specifics, accompanied by documents outlining areas where further talks were needed.

"If we are making progress toward the finish line, then we should keep going," he said.

But he acknowledged negotiators might not reach an agreement.

"Ultimately this is something we have been talking about for more than a year now, and it's time for Iran to make the serious commitments that they know the international community is expecting them to make."

Without those pledges from Iran, the U.S. and its five negotiating partners will have to consider "other alternatives," Earnest said.

Another Western official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the private talks, said the negotiations Tuesday had been difficult.

Officials had hoped to wrap up the current talks by Tuesday night with that joint general statement agreeing to start a new phase of negotiations to curb Iran's nuclear program. That statement would be accompanied by more detailed documents that would include technical information on understandings of steps required on all sides to resolve outstanding concerns.

Those documents would allow the sides to claim that the new phase of talks would not simply be a continuation of negotiations that have already been twice extended since an interim agreement between Iran and the other nations was concluded in November 2013.

President Barack Obama and other leaders have said they are not interested in a third extension.

Kerry late last year said the focus for the March was agreement on "the major elements" of a comprehensive deal that would set a "clear path" for a June deal. If that failed to materialize, "we can revisit how we then want to choose to proceed," he added.

But obstacles remained Tuesday on several main issues -- uranium enrichment, where stockpiles of enriched uranium should be stored, limits on Iran's nuclear research and development and the timing and scope of sanctions among other issues, according to negotiators.

Meanwhile, some members of Congress want to move forward with new, stiffer Iran sanctions. Lawmakers had agreed to hold off on such a measure through March while the parties negotiated, and some criticized the extension of the talks into today.

On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a statement that the U.S. should have walked away from negotiations rather than extend the talks. Cotton has criticized the negotiations as giving in to Iran and opening the door for the country to develop nuclear weapons.

"Given the dangerous concessions by the Obama administration over the past week, one can only imagine what further concessions it will make in the next 24 hours to resolve these issues," he said. "The best solution is walk away from the nuclear negotiations now and return to a position of strength. We should reinstate existing sanctions suspended under the Joint Plan of Action, and Congress should act immediately to impose new sanctions. It's time for the United States to regain the upper hand and quit negotiating out of weakness."

The White House has said new sanctions would scuttle further diplomatic efforts to contain Iran's nuclear work and possibly lead Israel to act on threats to use military force to accomplish that goal.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also renewed his criticism of the unfolding deal, saying it would leave intact much of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, including underground research facilities, a plutonium reactor and advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium.

The U.S. has said any final deal will accomplish a goal of stretching the time Iran would need to make a nuclear weapon from several months to a year. But Netanyahu said Washington initially promised "years" to such a "breakout time."

"In our estimate, it will be reduced to perhaps a year, most likely much less than that," he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee, George Jahn, Julie Pace and Darlene Superville of The Associated Press; by Paul Richter of Tribune News Service; by Michael A. Gordon and David E. Sanger of The New York Times; and by Sarah D. Wire of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 04/01/2015

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