Iran’s foreign minister has blamed divisions between Western powers
for the failure to agree a deal on its nuclear programme on Saturday.
Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected US Secretary of State John Kerry’s claim
that Iran had been unable to accept the deal “at that particular
moment”.
He said “no amount of spinning” could change what had happened in
Geneva, but it could “further erode confidence”.
Mr Zarif appeared to blame France for “gutting over half” of a US draft deal.
Representatives from Iran and the so-called P5+1 – the US, UK, France,
Russia and China plus Germany – will meet again on 20 November.
Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes
only, but world powers suspect it is seeking to develop nuclear
weapons.
‘Not Iran’s fault’: Some reports said the latest talks failed because
France had wanted to place tight restrictions on the heavy-water
reactor being built at Arak; others that the Iranian government’s
insistence on formal recognition of its “right” to enrich uranium had
been the major obstacle.
During a visit to Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, Mr Kerry told reporters
that the P5+1 had been “unified on Saturday when we presented our
proposal to the Iranians”.
“The French signed off on it, we signed off on it, and everybody
agreed it was a fair proposal,” he added. “Iran couldn’t take it at
that particular moment.”
Later, Mr Zarif responded to the claim on Twitter.
“No amount of spinning can change what happened within 5+1 in Geneva
from 6pm Thursday to 5:45pm Saturday. But it can further erode
confidence,” he wrote.
“Mr Secretary, was it Iran that gutted over half of US draft Thursday
night? And publicly commented against it Friday morning?”
Mr Zarif appeared to be referring to French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius, who on Friday morning cautioned in a statement that his
country wanted a “credible agreement”.
At the end of the day’s talks, Mr Fabius told France Inter radio that
Paris could not accept a “fool’s game”.
A Russian foreign ministry source was also quoted by the Interfax news
agency on Tuesday as saying the failure was “not Iran’s fault”.
“Iran was happy about the draft joint document, but since a decision
during the negotiations is approved by consensus, it was impossible to
reach a final agreement,” the source said.
Mr Zarif was nevertheless positive about the prospect of a breakthrough.
“We are committed to constructive engagement. Interaction on equal
footing key to achieve shared objectives,” he wrote.
Mr Kerry also told the BBC that negotiators had been “very, very
close… extremely close” to agreeing a deal.
“I think we were separated by four or five different formulations of a
particular concept,” he said.
On Monday, Mr Fabius denied responsibility for the talks’ failure and
revealed that there had been several issues that “still need to be
discussed with the Iranians”, including the Arak facility.
Tehran says the reactor is intended for the production of
radioisotopes for medical purposes, but its spent fuel will contain
plutonium suitable for use in nuclear weapons.
Questions also remain over Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to a
medium level of purity, or 20%. Experts say it could be enriched to
90%, the level required for a nuclear bomb, in a relatively short
time. – BBC News
