Iran, the United States and other world powers are all but certain to miss today’s deadline for negotiations to resolve a 12-year stand-off over Tehran’s atomic ambitions, forcing them to seek an extension, sources said yesterday.
The talks in Vienna aim for a deal that could transform the Middle East, open the door to ending economic sanctions on Iran and start to bring a nation of 76 million people in from the cold after decades of hostility with the West.
But sources confirmed yesterday what officials close to the talks have been predicting privately for weeks: that a final deal is still too far off to hammer out by the deadline.
“Considering the short time left until the deadline and number of issues that is needed to be discussed and resolved, it is impossible to reach a final and comprehensive deal by November 24,” Iran’s Isna news agency quoted an unidentified member of the country’s negotiating team in Vienna as saying.
“The issue of extension of the talks is an option on the table and we will start discussing it if no deal is reached by Sunday night,” the official said.
A final deal is still too far off to hammer out by the deadline
A European official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity said: “To reach a comprehensive deal seems physically impossible. Even if we were to get a political agreement the technical annexes are not ready.” The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China began the final round of talks with Iran on Tuesday to clinch a pact under which Tehran would curb its nuclear work in exchange for having economically crippling sanctions lifted.
Some Western officials describe two possible options for a rollover if today’s deadline is missed.
Under one scenario, the talks would simply break off and experts from the two sides would reconvene in a few weeks for another attempt at a comprehensive deal.
A lengthier option would be a formal extension into next year, adding new elements to an interim agreement from last year. US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU envoy Catherine Ashton yesterday at a 19th century palace in the centre of Vienna, their fifth meeting since the talks began. An Iranian official described the meeting as good, but added: “We still have a lot to work on.”
The talks aim to end Western suspicions that Iran is seeking an atomic bomb capability, while allowing Iran to have the civilian nuclear programme it says is its right under international treaties.