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Officials from the U.S. and Iran say more work is needed to reach a final deal to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons but keep its civil program.
Talks over a nuclear deal that would curb the Iran’s nuclear capability and restrict it to a civilian program resumed Saturday as high-level officials said that much work was needed to reach a comprehensive agreement. The civilian program is a right all countries have, to enrich nuclear fuel for civilian purposes.
Iran currently does not have any nuclear weapons, while the U.S. has an estimated 4,760, and is the only country in the world to have used its weapons on civilians. The U.S. claims it is concerned about Iran having the ability to develop nuclear weapons within a few years.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Austrian capital Vienna Saturday morning and was followed by the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
"We have a lot of hard work to do. We have some very tough issues," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday, according to a U.S. state department draft transcript.
Zarif echoed Kerry's comments and said that more hard work was needed. “I agree. Maybe not on the issues. But on the fact that we need to work really hard in order to be able to make progress and move forward," Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was cited as saying in the transcript.
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As SL @khamenei_ir stressed,Iranians want a dignified deal and reject excessive demands.Going to Vienna to secure a fair & lasting #IranDeal
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif)
June 25, 201
In addition to the U.S and Iran, the talks include Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. Foreign ministers from all the nations, as well as the European Union foreign policy chief, are expected in Vienna in the coming days.
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Back in April, the world powers and Iran reached a framework agreement and set a self-imposed June 30 deadline for reaching a comprehensive deal.
The French foreign minister Laurent Fabiu told reporters from Vienna that the deal aimed at guaranteeing that Iran gives up nuclear weapons development indefinitely without infringing on Teheran’s sovereignty and right for civil nuclear power.
“For this there were three indispensable conditions,” he said. “A lasting limitation of Iran's research and development capacity, rigorous inspections of sites, including military if needed, and the automatic return of sanctions if Iran violates its commitments.”
Meanwhile, Iran has maintained that any deal must see the immediate lifting of sanctions that are imposed on the people of Iran by the U.S., the EU and their allies.
We are serious in efforts for lifting sanction, yet see them an opportunity. Sanctions made us reconsider & rely on our domestic power.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir)
June 23, 201
However, that could prove difficult as U.S. president Barack Obama signed off on a law last month granting the U.S. congress a reviewing period of any deal between Iran and the world powers.
If the U.S. delegation at the Iran talks delivers the deal by July 9 to the congress, the congressional review will last for only 30 days. However, a deal after July 9 would give the congress a 60-day review period.
During the review period, Obama would not be able to suspend the sanctions on Iran.
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