Talks between Iran and major powers entered Sunday a "critical phase" with tensions rising days from a deadline to nail down a deal thwarting any Iranian nuclear arms drive.
EU foreign policy head Federica Mogherini said Sunday as she joined the meeting in Vienna with US Secretary of State John Kerry and their Iranian counterpart that "political will" was still needed.
"It is going to be tough, it has always been tough but not impossible... It is a matter of political will. The reasons for having this agreement done are still there, probably now more than ever," Mogherini told reporters.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived on Saturday. British and German counterparts Philip Hammond and Frank-Walter Steinmeier were expected Sunday. China and Russia were represented at deputy foreign minister level.
"Obviously we are at a critical stage now," a Western diplomat said. "It's become more tense in the final days. But that was always likely to happen."
Global powers known as the P5+1 group -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- are seeking to flesh out the final details of a historic accord to curtail Iran's nuclear programme.
They are seeking an accord by Tuesday's June 30 deadline, building on guidelines set by a framework deal agreed in Lausanne on April 2. Officials say the talks may slip a few days into July, however.
Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif both told reporters Saturday that "hard work" still needed to be done.
But Zarif's deputy Abbas Araghchi suggested parts of the Lausanne framework no longer applied because other countries had changed their positions.
"Some of the solutions found in Lausanne no longer work, because after Lausanne certain countries within the P5+1 made declarations... and we see a change in their position which complicates the task," he told Al-Alam television.
- 'Indispensable' conditions -
Fabius said on Saturday as he arrived that three key conditions needed for a deal were "not yet accepted by all parties even though they are the basis for the robust accord that we want."
Fabius, seen as a hardliner in the talks, stressed there must be "a lasting limitation of Iran's nuclear capacities in research and production" as well as rigorous inspection of military sites, and a mechanism to quickly reimpose sanctions if Iran violates the deal.
It is hoped a deal would end a standoff dating back to 2002 which has threatened to escalate into war and poisoned the Islamic republic's relations with the outside world.
But any deal must stand up to intense scrutiny by hardliners in Iran and the United States, as well as Iran's regional rivals Israel, widely assumed to have nuclear weapons itself, and Saudi Arabia.
According to the Lausanne framework, Iran will slash by more than two-thirds its uranium enrichment centrifuges, which can make fuel for nuclear power or the core of a nuclear bomb, and shrink its uranium stockpile by 98 percent.
Iran also agreed to change a planned reactor at Arak so it cannot produce weapons-grade plutonium and to no longer use its Fordo facility -- built into a mountain to protect it from attack -- for uranium enrichment.
In return it is seeking a lifting of a complicated web of EU, US and UN sanctions which have choked its economy and limited access to world oil markets.
But on Tuesday Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, set out key "red lines" for a final agreement that appeared to go against Lausanne.
These included the timing of sanctions relief and UN access to military bases, needed to investigate claims of past bomb-making efforts and to probe any future suspicious activity.
Steinmeier told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published Sunday that "if there is no clarity on this (inspections of military sites), there will be no deal."
Talks between Iran and major powers entered Sunday a “critical phase” with tensions rising days from a deadline to nail down a deal thwarting any Iranian nuclear arms drive.
EU foreign policy head Federica Mogherini said Sunday as she joined the meeting in Vienna with US Secretary of State John Kerry and their Iranian counterpart that “political will” was still needed.
“It is going to be tough, it has always been tough but not impossible… It is a matter of political will. The reasons for having this agreement done are still there, probably now more than ever,” Mogherini told reporters.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius arrived on Saturday. British and German counterparts Philip Hammond and Frank-Walter Steinmeier were expected Sunday. China and Russia were represented at deputy foreign minister level.
“Obviously we are at a critical stage now,” a Western diplomat said. “It’s become more tense in the final days. But that was always likely to happen.”
Global powers known as the P5+1 group — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — are seeking to flesh out the final details of a historic accord to curtail Iran’s nuclear programme.
They are seeking an accord by Tuesday’s June 30 deadline, building on guidelines set by a framework deal agreed in Lausanne on April 2. Officials say the talks may slip a few days into July, however.
Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif both told reporters Saturday that “hard work” still needed to be done.
But Zarif’s deputy Abbas Araghchi suggested parts of the Lausanne framework no longer applied because other countries had changed their positions.
“Some of the solutions found in Lausanne no longer work, because after Lausanne certain countries within the P5+1 made declarations… and we see a change in their position which complicates the task,” he told Al-Alam television.
– ‘Indispensable’ conditions –
Fabius said on Saturday as he arrived that three key conditions needed for a deal were “not yet accepted by all parties even though they are the basis for the robust accord that we want.”
Fabius, seen as a hardliner in the talks, stressed there must be “a lasting limitation of Iran’s nuclear capacities in research and production” as well as rigorous inspection of military sites, and a mechanism to quickly reimpose sanctions if Iran violates the deal.
It is hoped a deal would end a standoff dating back to 2002 which has threatened to escalate into war and poisoned the Islamic republic’s relations with the outside world.
But any deal must stand up to intense scrutiny by hardliners in Iran and the United States, as well as Iran’s regional rivals Israel, widely assumed to have nuclear weapons itself, and Saudi Arabia.
According to the Lausanne framework, Iran will slash by more than two-thirds its uranium enrichment centrifuges, which can make fuel for nuclear power or the core of a nuclear bomb, and shrink its uranium stockpile by 98 percent.
Iran also agreed to change a planned reactor at Arak so it cannot produce weapons-grade plutonium and to no longer use its Fordo facility — built into a mountain to protect it from attack — for uranium enrichment.
In return it is seeking a lifting of a complicated web of EU, US and UN sanctions which have choked its economy and limited access to world oil markets.
But on Tuesday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, set out key “red lines” for a final agreement that appeared to go against Lausanne.
These included the timing of sanctions relief and UN access to military bases, needed to investigate claims of past bomb-making efforts and to probe any future suspicious activity.
Steinmeier told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published Sunday that “if there is no clarity on this (inspections of military sites), there will be no deal.”
