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Kerry continues Iran nuke talks

July 14, 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry has met for a second day with his Iranian counterpart in a bid to reach a final deal on Tehran's nuclear program before a July 20 deadline. A first day of talks brought little progress.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CcWs
Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, foreground, holds a bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry background right, on the second straight day of talks, in Vienna, Austria, Monday July 14, 2014. AP Photo/Jim Bourg, Pool
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo

Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met on Monday after a first day of talks in Vienna on Sunday between Iran and six world powers - Germany, Britain, France, the United States, China and Russia - failed to break the current stalemate over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

Ahead of the meeting, a senior State Department official said Kerry wanted to "gauge Iran's willingness to make the critical choices it needs to make."

The meeting comes a day after Kerry and the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany failed to reach a breakthrough on issues standing in the way of a deal that would see restrictions imposed on Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions on Tehran.

'Significant gaps'

A series of one-to-one talks on Sunday between each of the ministers and Zarif only served to highlight significant gaps between the two sides, officials said after the meetings.

Zarif himself said no problems had been resolved, "but I think we have made some important headway."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters that the Vienna talks "may be the last chance for a long time to peacefully resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program."

"It's now up to Iran to decide whether it wants cooperation with the international community or to remain in isolation," he added.

Russia and China have sent only lower-level officials to the Vienna talks.

Extendable deadline

Western sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program have been relaxed over the past six months under an interim deal that was contingent on a final agreement being reached by July 20. However, the interim agreement also allowed for an extension of up to six months if no full accord could be hammered out by then.

The major stumbling blocks to the deal are Iran's desire to expand uranium enrichment activities and its insistence that any restrictions be of relatively short duration.

The US and others fear Tehran could use uranium enrichment to produce material for nuclear warheads, although the Islamic Republic denies it wants arms, saying its nuclear activities are of a strictly civilian nature.

tj/pfd (Reuters, AP)