The Iranian regime and world powers are beginning a final day of talks to reach an outline agreement on the country’s nuclear program, with Germany’s foreign minister saying that negotiations are at a crucial stage, the Bloomberg reports.
“We’re in a bit of a crisis with the talks; perhaps we have a bit of a new approach, we will see,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters today. At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is returning to the talks, a sign that a deal is still within reach.
Talks are stuck on how to roll back the sanctions that have slashed Iran’s oil output, and how to re-impose them should Iran violate the agreement, a European diplomat who spoke on condition of not being identified said on Monday. Both sides are playing a high-stakes game of chicken and the situation was changing hour-by-hour, the negotiator said.
According to the Reuters: Officials in the Swiss city of Lausanne said talks on a framework accord, which is intended as a prelude to a comprehensive agreement by the end of June, could yet fall apart. They have set a deadline of midnight on Tuesday for a framework agreement, but officials from all sides say it was possible the talks could run past the deadline.
"There still remain some difficult issues," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN. "We are working very hard to work those through. We are working into the night."
As the ministers -- barring Russia's Sergei Lavrov, who was due back in Lausanne in the afternoon -- convened for the first plenary of the day, diplomats cautioned the talks could run deep into the early hours of Wednesday.
The Iranian regime has not backed down in any way, at any stage, from the positions with which it began the talks,MEMRI reports:
1. Tehran rejects the removal of its enriched uranium from Iran.
2. Tehran rejects a gradual lifting of the sanctions.
3. Tehran rejects restriction of the number of its centrifuges.
4. Tehran rejects intrusive inspections and snap inspections.
5. Tehran rejects any halt to its research and development activity.
6. Tehran rejects any change to the nature of its heavy water reactor at Arak.
7. Tehran rejects any closure of its secret enrichment site at Fordow.
8. Tehran rejects all restrictions to its nuclear activity following the agreement's expiration.
9. Tehran rejects the inclusion of its long-range missile program in the negotiations.
10. Tehran rejects reporting on its previous clandestine military nuclear activity.
11. Tehran rejects allowing inspections of military sites suspected of conducting nuclear activity.
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