Kerry urges Iran to make ‘hard choices’

An Iranian nuclear agreement is possible this week if Iran makes the "hard choices" necessary, but if not, the United States remains ready to walk away from the negotiations, US secretary of state John Kerry has said.

After his third meeting of the day with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Mr Kerry said they had made “genuine progress” in talks over the last few days, but “several of the most difficult issues” remain. “If hard choices get made in the next couple of days, made quickly, we could get an agreement this week, but if they are not made, we will not,” he said outside the hotel where talks between Iran, the US and five other powers are being held.

Foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia were expected to begin arriving last night as the major powers make a major push to meet tomorrow's deadline for a final agreement to end the 12-year-old dispute.

Mr Kerry said negotiators were still aiming for that deadline, but other diplomats have said the talks could slip to July 9th, the date by which the Obama administration must submit a deal to Congress in order to get an expedited 30-day review.

The agreement under discussion would require Iran to curb its most sensitive nuclear work for a decade or more in exchange for relief from sanctions that have slashed its oil exports and crippled its economy.

The administration of US president Barack Obama, which has been accused of making too many concessions by Republican members of Congress and by Israel, remained ready to abandon the talks, Mr Kerry said. “If we don’t have a deal and there is . . . unwillingness to move on the things that are important for us, President Obama has always said we’re prepared to walk away.”

The top US and Iranian diplomats met for a sixth consecutive day yesterday to try to resolve obstacles to a nuclear accord, including when Iran would get sanctions relief and what advanced research and development it may pursue.

Keeping up what has been a steady stream of criticism, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the US and major powers were negotiating “a bad deal”. “It seems that the nuclear talks [with] Iran have yielded a collapse, not a breakthrough,” he said according to remarks released by his office.

While they have made some progress on the type of bilateral sanctions relief that Iran may receive, the two sides remain divided on such issues as lifting United Nations sanctions and on its research and development of advanced centrifuges.

The major powers suspect Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran has said its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes such as producing medical isotopes and generating electricity.

Diplomats close to the negotiations have said they had tentative agreement on a mechanism for suspending US and EU sanctions on Iran. However the six powers have yet to agree with Iran on a UN Security Council resolution that would lift UN sanctions and establish a means of reimposing them in case of Iranian non-compliance with a future agreement. – (Reuters)