US, Iran hold ‘important’ talks to hasten nuclear deal

US secretary of state John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif met in Geneva, ahead of full negotiations with global powers which resume on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif laughs with reporters before meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015. Zarif said on Wednesday that his meeting with Kerry was important to see if progress could be made in narrowing differences on his country's disputed nuclear program. (AP Photo/Rick Wilking, Pool)Show less

GENEVA // The United States and Iran held “substantive” talks on Wednesday as they seek to step up the pace of negotiations for a nuclear deal, a US official said.

The US secretary of state John Kerry and Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met “for approximately five hours” and discussed “a broad range of issues with a small group of staff from each side,” a state department official said.

The meeting in Geneva came ahead of the resumption of full negotiations with global powers on Sunday.

They are seeking to break a stalemate that has caused them to miss two previous deadlines for a full agreement to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr Zarif said yesterday’s talks were “important”.

“I think it will show the readiness of the two parties to move forward to speed up the process,” he said.

When asked if there would be a comprehensive deal by the July 1 deadline, he remained cautious replying: “We’ll see.”

Past negotiations have stumbled reportedly over Iran’s insistence that it retain the right to enrich some uranium – which can in some cases be used to make a nuclear weapon – for what it says is a peaceful civilian nuclear programme.

There has also been disagreement over global sanctions, with Tehran calling for an end to an iron-fisted regime that has crippled Iran’s economy, while Washington has insisted on a temporary, gradual suspension.

Negotiators have worked hard to keep details of their differences secret though, and when asked about the thorniest matters still clouding the talks, Mr Zarif would not go into detail.

“All issues are hard until we resolve them and all issues are easy if you resolve them,” he said before meeting Mr Kerry yesterday.

Mr Kerry has said the aim of his talks with Mr Zarif was to “take stock” and provide guidance for their negotiating teams ahead of fresh discussions by the five world powers – the United States, Britain, China, France, and Russia – and Germany.

He was accompanied to the talks by his chief negotiators Wendy Sherman and Bill Burns.

Diplomats fear that time to reach a deal may be running out, after two earlier deadlines for an accord were missed.

American legislators are eager to impose new sanctions on Iran despite attempts by the Obama administration to hold them off.

Washington’s UN envoy Samantha Power said on Monday that stepping up sanctions against Iran would probably torpedo the negotiations. “Imposing new sanctions will almost certainly end a negotiations process that has not only frozen the advance of Iran’s nuclear programme, but that could lead us to an understanding that would give us confidence in its exclusively peaceful nature,” she said.

“If we pull the trigger on new nuclear-related sanctions now, we will go from isolating Iran to isolating ourselves.”

But Mr Zarif told Iranian television that “we have arrived at the stage where the other party must take decisions so we can go forward”.

“New proposals must be put forward. We are ready to discuss all the issues, but we will have to see if the other side is ready,” he said, repeating Iran’s insistence that it was not seeking a nuclear weapon.

Under an interim deal with world powers since last January, Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment.

In return, Iran received limited relief from sanctions, obtaining about US$7 billion (Dh25.7bn) from more than US$100bn in oil revenues frozen in bank accounts around the world.

But two deadlines for a comprehensive accord with the group of nations have since been missed as they have tussled to nail down a complex, technical deal.

* Agence France-Presse