The US Secretary of State, John Kerry gave an update about nuclear negotiations with Iran. He said in the final push before the deadline, there is hope of an agreement being struck, but is far from being a done deal.
Kerry spoke in Vienna, Austria hours ago after talks with Iranian regime foreign minister, Zarif for the sixth straight day. He said the negotiators are still looking at Tuesday’s deadline to try to strike a final agreement.
John Kerry said: “I want to be absolutely clear with everybody. We are not yet where we need to be on several most difficult issues. And the truth is that while I completely agree with foreign minister Zarif, that we have never been closer, at this point this negotiation could go either way. If hard choices get made in the next couple of days, and made quickly, we could get an agreement this week.”
CNN correspondent in Vienna said there are still a number of outstanding issues remaining. We have heard that there has been some progress at the time table for sanctions to be lifted, but it does seem that there are some sanctions issues that are still outstanding, as well as some technical nuclear issues. Specifically what kind of access would IAEA inspectors have to inspect those facilities, especially military facilities, and speak with nuclear scientists that are working on Iran nuclear program? Secretary Kerry insisted that the United States was still willing to walk away if it faced “absolute intransigent.”
Mr. Kerry also made a point that the negotiators were not going to “shave away at the margins just to get a deal.” So it is really about drilling down those details and making sure that any agreement that is done here wouldn’t need to be fixed or patched up later on down the line. And that’s what key is.
CNN concluded that as Secretary Kerry did insist, right now it is a 50/50 chance of any deal.
