Iran nuke talks to miss target date

Tehran’s foreign minister returning home for consultation

U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (from left), U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman attend a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (second from right) at a hotel in Vienna on Sunday.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (from left), U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman attend a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (second from right) at a hotel in Vienna on Sunday.

VIENNA -- A senior U.S. official acknowledged Sunday that nuclear talks with Iran will go past their Tuesday target date, as Iran's foreign minister prepared to head home for consultations before returning to push for a breakthrough.

Iranian media said Mohammed Javad Zarif's trip home from talks seeking a deal that would crimp Tehran's capacity to make nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief was planned in advance.

Zarif's shuttle diplomacy isn't unexpected, and his return to the capital for instruction could be a good thing, according to a U.S. administration official who asked not to be named in line with diplomatic rules. Negotiators will probably miss their Tuesday deadline, said the person, confirming earlier reports.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said diplomats are close to clinching a deal.

"We are near to close the deal, it is a good deal," Mogherini told reporters late Sunday after meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Zarif.

Mogherini said both sides have shown the "political will" to finish drafting a long-term accord to limit Iran's nuclear activities by the end of June or early July. Foreign ministers from all seven nations will again convene in the Austrian capital once a deal has been drafted.

"Postponement is not an option," she said, denying that negotiators might need a pause in the talks.

Underscoring progress, two diplomats from among the six countries negotiating with Iran said the country has agreed to wait for sanctions relief until after United Nations inspectors have verified that curbs are implemented. Final details are to be worked out on the International Atomic Energy Agency's assessment of the possible military dimensions of Iran's past nuclear work.

Mogherini's upbeat comments contrasted with more cautious remarks by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who said the Iranian side needs to show more "flexibility" and that "tough choices will have to be made by all of us."

Among them is how much access Tehran should give to United Nations experts monitoring the country's compliance to any deal. The United States insists on more intrusive monitoring than Iran is ready to give.

The dispute over access surfaced again Sunday, with Iranian Gen. Masoud Jazayeri saying that any inspection by foreigners of Iran's military centers is prohibited.

He said the attempt by the U.S. and its allies to "obtain Iran's military information for years ... by the pressure of sanctions" will not succeed.

But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who joined the talks Friday, said Iran's "nuclear activities, no matter where they take place," must be verifiable.

Officials said they could not speculate on how many days' extension the talks would need. But Zarif told reporters that he planned to return only on Tuesday, the day the negotiations were originally supposed to end.

For weeks, all seven nations at the negotiating table insisted that Tuesday remains the formal deadline for a deal. But with time running out, a senior U.S. official acknowledged that was unrealistic.

"Given the dates, and that we have some work to do ... the parties are planning to remain in Vienna beyond June 30 to continue working," said the official, who demanded anonymity in line with State Department practice.

Both sides recognize that there is leeway to extend to July 9. As part of an agreement with the U.S. Congress, lawmakers then have 30 days to review the deal before suspending congressional sanctions.

But postponement beyond that would double the congressional review period to 60 days, giving both Iranian and U.S. critics more time to undermine an agreement.

On Saturday, diplomats said Iran was considering a U.S.-backed plan for it to send enriched uranium to another country for sale as reactor fuel, a step that would resolve one of several outstanding issues.

At the hotel where the talks were taking place, siblings of two American men imprisoned in Iran spoke to journalists, worried that their brothers' fate may remain unresolved even if, or especially if, a nuclear deal is reached.

Three American men of Iranian descent -- a former Marine, a journalist and a pastor -- are languishing in Iranian prisons, accused of threatening national security.

Ali Rezaian went to Vienna to advocate for his brother, Jason Rezaian, 39. The Washington Post's Tehran correspondent was jailed in 2014 on accusations of espionage that his family, newspaper and the U.S. government say are false.

Sarah Hekmati, 34, is working for the release of her brother, Amir Hekmati, 31, a Michigan native and former Marine who was visiting his grandmother in Iran when he was arrested and charged with espionage in 2011.

U.S. officials say that they demand the three men's release and information about a fourth American, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran eight years ago, every time they meet with Iranian diplomats.

But President Barack Obama's administration also says the men's fate must be separated from the nuclear talks, that their release shouldn't be tied to nuclear concessions, and that Iran needs to release them with or without an accord in Vienna.

Information for this article was contributed by George Jahn, Bradley Klapper, Matthew Lee, Ali Akbar Dareini and Josef Federman of the Associated Press and by Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Henry Meyer, John Follain, Kambiz Foroohar, Jonathan Tirone, and staff members of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 06/29/2015

Upcoming Events