U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held a round of late-night talks on Saturday with the seven delegations involved in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear weapons, after the possible deal hit a setback.
Western diplomats convened in Geneva, where they are aiming to come to an agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear weapon production. But complications arose when French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius objected to a draft outlining conditions, delaying progress and possibly forcing a second meeting, the Associated Press reports.
Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, for a third time on Saturday, but Zarif wasn’t included in Saturday’s late-night meeting.
On Friday, Kerry met with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, as well as foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Russia. Baodong Li, China’s deputy foreign minister, arrived Friday, the Washington Post adds.
Fabius wants tougher conditions on the two main issues discussed at the meeting: Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor and its production of highly enriched uranium, according to a Western diplomat. Iran denies nuclear weapon production, but runs more than 10,000 centrifuges that produce enriched uranium, which could be used for nuclear warheads.
A new round of talks is expected to be announced should the diplomats fail to reach a deal this weekend. Zarif told Iranian state television that talks would reconvene within a week to 10 days if questions still remained following the meeting.
[AP]
