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Friday, November 8, 2013
Interim Iran nuclear Deal Could be signed Friday between Iran and P 5 + 1 Group .... Senate Hawks and Israel seeking to block Deal - Watch for reactions from Saudis !
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GENEVA (AP) - Iran and six world powers remain split on terms of a nuclear deal because Tehran is resisting demands that it suspends work on a plutonium-producing reactor and downgrade its stockpile of higher-enriched uranium to a level that cannot quickly be turned into the core of an atomic bomb, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday.
Diplomats reported differences between the French and other powers on the shape of any deal as Fabius spoke, adding to the complexities of the negotiations.
Fabius' remarks to France-Inter radio were the first to provide some specifics on the obstacles at the Geneva talks, now in their third day. He spoke by telephone from Geneva, where he, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and counterparts from Britain, and Germany negotiating with Iran consulted on how to resolve the obstacles at the talks.
Fabius mentioned differences over Iran's Arak reactor southeast of Tehran, which could produce enough plutonium for several nuclear weapons a year once it goes online. He also said there was disagreement over efforts to limit Iran's uranium enrichment to levels that would require substantial further enriching before they could be used as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon.
(AP) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, second left, arrives for a meeting with European Union's top... Full Image
Asked about reported disagreements, a Western diplomat who is in Geneva for the talks told The Associated Press that the French were holding out for conditions on the Iranians tougher than those agreed to by France's negotiating partners. That was confirmed by another Western diplomat. Both gave no specifics and demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the diplomatic maneuvering.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal pointed to "rather large cohesion" among the negotiators, and said France wanted "the international community to see a serious change in the climate" of talks with Iran.
"There have been years of talks that have led to nothing," Nadal said, alluding to the need for tough terms on Iran.
Iran, which denies any interest in nuclear weapons, currently runs more than 10,000 centrifuges that have created tons of fuel-grade material that can be further enriched to arm nuclear warheads. It also has nearly 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of higher-enriched uranium in a form that can be turned into weapons much more quickly. Experts say 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of that 20 percent-enriched uranium are needed to produce a single warhead.
Iran says it expects Arak, the plutonium producing reactor, to be completed and go online sometime next year. It would need additional facilities to reprocess the plutonium into weapons-grade material and the U.N's nuclear agency monitoring Iran's atomic activities says it has seen no evidence of such a project.
(AP) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry walks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton... Full Image
Fabius said Iran is opposed to suspending work on Arak while nuclear negotiations go on in attempt to reach a first-stage agreement and then a comprehensive final deal limiting Tehran's atomic work. He said that "for us" suspension was absolutely necessary, but it was unclear if that meant France was alone in seeing the issue as non-negotiable or whether he was speaking for the rest of the negotiating group.
Iran is also being asked to blend down "a great part of this stock at 20 percent, to 5 percent," Fabius said. Uranium enriched to 5 percent is considered reactor fuel grade and upgrading it to weapons-level takes much longer than for 20 percent enriched uranium. He also suggested that the six powers were looking for an Iranian commitment to cap future enrichment at 5 percent.
"We are hoping for a deal, but for the moment there are still issues that have not been resolved," Fabius said.
Signaling that the talks could end without agreement, British Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke of unresolved issues and told reporters "there is no fixed time for us to reach a conclusion."
Any agreement would be a breakthrough after nearly a decade of mostly inconclusive talks, but would only be the start of a long process to reduce Iran's potential ability to produce nuclear arms, with no guarantee of ultimate success.
(AP) Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, leaves the hotel at the second day of closed-door... Full Image
Kerry and his European counterparts arrived in Geneva on Friday with the talks at a critical stage following a full day of negotiations Thursday and said some obstacles remained in the way of any agreement offering sanctions reductions for nuclear concessions.
The presence of Lavrov, and word that Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Baodong Li also was headed to the talks provided fresh hope for at least an interim deal.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted any agreement in the making was a "bad deal" that gave Iran a pass by offering to lift sanctions for cosmetic concessions that he said left intact Tehran's nuclear weapons-making ability. Israel is strongly critical of any deal that even slightly lifts sanctions unless Iran is totally stripped of technology that can make nuclear arms.
Asked about Netanyahu's criticism, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said "any critique of the deal is premature" because an agreement has not been reached.
The White House later said President Barack Obama called Netanyahu to update him on the ongoing talks and said Obama affirmed he's still committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The White House said Obama and Netanyahu will stay in close contact.
Kerry tempered reports of progress, warning of "important gaps" that must be overcome.
But Lavrov's deputy, Sergei Ryabov, was quoted as saying that Moscow expects them to produce a "lasting result expected by the international community."
The talks primarily focus on the size and output of Iran's enrichment program, which can create both reactor fuel and weapons-grade material suitable for a nuclear bomb. Iran insists it is pursuing only nuclear energy, medical treatments and research, but the U.S. and its allies fear that Iran could turn this material into the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
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http://rt.com/news/france-geneva-talks-iran-478/
France has called for caution as top diplomats seem to be on the verge of a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran. FM Laurent Fabius said that, although France hopes a deal is clinched, there is “no certainty” of a deal at the Geneva talks.
While diplomatic heavyweights from US, Russia, China, UK and Germany are calling to seize the moment and seal a deal with Iran, Paris has voiced its doubts. Urging caution, Fabius told French radio that there were still pressing issues that needed to be resolved before any agreement could be struck.
“There are still a couple of points that we are not satisfied with,” Laurent Fabius told French radio station France Inter, adding that the Arak nuclear plant and the 20 percent enriched uranium stock were of particular concern to France.
"We are for an agreement, that's clear. But the agreement has got to be serious and credible. The initial text made progress but not enough," he said, adding the France should avoid falling for “a fool’s game.”
The international community suspects that Iran is enriching uranium with a view to creating atomic weapons, something that Tehran has always denied. To allay these fears the Iranian government has offered a number of concessions, including reducing uranium enrichment to 5 percent, far from the 20 percent necessary for the construction of a nuclear bomb, according to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.
In addition, Iran said it would not activate its plutonium reactor at Arak for a period of six months and limit the use of its centrifuges.
In return, Iran asks that financial sanctions that have crippled its economy be removed.
France also said that Israel’s security concerns could not be ignored at the Geneva talks. Earlier Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned US Secretary of State John Kerry and his European counterparts that Israel rejects any deal with Iran. Moreover, Netanyahu said that the international community should accept nothing less than the total disbandment of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Israeli government has called for the world not to be fooled by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s“charm offensive.”
“One should not be taken in by Rouhani’s deceptive words,” Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The same Rouhani boasted in the past how he deceived the international community with nuclear talks, even as Iran was continuing with its nuclear program.”
'Seize the moment'
In response to Netanyahu’s concerns, US diplomats said it was too early to criticize what is still being deliberated.
Representatives from the UK, Germany, France and US arrived in Geneva for talks Friday that were described as "making progress.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov joined the negotiations Saturday, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wan Yi was also expected to arrive later Saturday.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for a final push toward a deal with Iran, telling reporters"we must do everything we can to seize the moment.” However, he conceded that any agreement would involve a measure of flexibility from all sides.
If an agreement were reached in Geneva it would end a decade-long diplomatic deadlock with Iran. Previous meetings were often marked by the absence of one or more of the attending countries’ top diplomats, but this time all are in attendance.
‘Good cop, bad cop’
Political analyst Robert Harneis told RT that France is adopting a good cop, bad cop strategy with the US to make Washington look better.
“Obama is suddenly being much more reasonable in his attitude with the Iranians, and the French are out there on the flanks saying: “Oh, you mustn’t agree too easily, Israel must be protected,” said Haneis, adding that the “considerable” Jewish lobby in France had a hand in the French sympathizing with Israel.
However, Harneis said an agreement could be clinched Saturday as it was in the Americans’ interests. “It could be that there’s a real revolution taking place and the Americans are going to change their stance because they need to do business with Iran,” Harneis told RT.
The interim nuclear accord negotiated directly between Washington and Tehran was already secretly in the bag before the two-day talks between Iran and the Six World powers took place in Geneva Thursday and Friday. The plan was for a ceremonial signing to take place Friday, Nov. 8, after US Secretary of State John Kerry flew in from Jerusalem and the Iranian Foreign Minister confirmed “the general outline of an agreement.”
Half a dozen foreign ministers from across the globe flew into Geneva to add their signatures to the interim accord.
But the signing did not take place and the event dragged on into Saturday, Nov. 9.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius remarked: “There is an initial draft that we do not accept… I have no certainty that we can finish up.” He also referred to the concerns of Iran’s neighbors in the Middle East.
French reservations on the accord were not, however, the main obstacle. It may be recalled that a last-minute phone call from President Barack Obama on July 31 persuaded President Francois Holland to return to their hangars the French bombers standing ready at Saudi air bases to strike Syria after its chemical attack.
The French government will no doubt be won round again and give the interim deal with Iran a chance.
The US president’s phone conversation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (“This is a very, very bad deal!”) early Saturday was a lot more heated. It took place after a three-day visit by John Kerry, which DEBKAfile’s sources reported Wednesday hardly touched on the Palestinian question: Most of the time he was on the phone to the US delegation in Geneva, the White House and the Iranian Foreign Minister.
From those conversations, Netanyahu learned to his dismay that the version of the accord he had received from Kerry in the first of their three conversations differed substantially from the outline prepared for signing in Geneva – especially in the key clause of sanctions relief.
This discovery precipitated the most furious row Friday ever heard by any US or Israeli official between an Israeli leader and an American official.
Netanyahu angrily confronted Kerry with the charge that the Obama administration had deceived Israel every step of the way by letting Iran continue to clandestinely develop the prohibited military elements of its nuclear program, including the underground enrichment plan in Fordo; the heavy water plant for plutonium production in construction in Arak; uranium enrichment up to 20 percent purity; and now, the last straw, sanctions.
While Obama and Kerry have admitted only to lifting “a few minor reversible sanctions” and “modest’ sanctions relief as part of the deal, Israel discovered a far more generous package of concessions was on offer. The Europeans would lead the way in easing sanctions to allow Washington to show clean hands – especially to Congress.
By Friday, the Iranians understood that the Obama administration was so hell-bent on signing the first ever international accord on their nuclear program, that they could afford without much risk to up the price for their signature and extort more last-minute concessions.
So confident is Tehran that the agreement is safe that Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) in Vienna, said Saturday that he expects the agency’s director Yukiya Amano to sign a new accord during his visit to Iran on Monday, Nov. 11.
"The Islamic republic of Iran has presented a new proposal that includes concrete actions, and we foresee that the text will be finalized on Monday," Najafi told state television.
DEBKAfile: This item referring to monitoring is a key clause of the interim agreement still to be signed in Geneva and virtually guarantees that the ceremony will take place before Monday.
Financial relief offered by world powers for a nuclear agreement isn’t enough for Iran, new reports from Tehran on Friday suggest.
The Middle Eastern country is demanding the removal of major sanctions on its oil and banking activities and acceptance of its right to nuclear enrichment before any agreement can be reached.
The reports state that the Islamic regime has been offered access to frozen assets of about $50 billion, along with other concessions on importation of necessary products, if it halts enrichment at the 20 percent level. It would be allowed to enrich at a level below 5 percent.
According to Mashregh News, the regime’s media outlet run by the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, Majid Takht Ravanchi, said the oil and banking sanctions must be ended as a first step.
Meanwhile, Irannuc.ir, an outlet close to the Guards, reported that the snag in negotiations and the reason for Secretary of State John Kerry’s travel to Geneva (the site of the current round of negotiations) is that the decision for the level of sanctions relief demanded by Iran and the recognition of its right to enrichment could not be made by deputy ministers representing the 5+1 world powers. Approval was needed from higher officials — hence the travel to Geneva by Kerry and other 5+1 foreign ministers. The Russian foreign minister reportedly will join the rest on Saturday.
The second round of talks in Geneva over Iran’s illicit nuclear program began on Thursday, with the White House saying it was hopeful that an initial deal could be finalized.
Iran has over 19,000 centrifuges and over 10 tons of enriched uranium — sufficient for several nuclear bombs — that could be converted to weaponized grade within a short time.
However, despite an offer of relief in exchange for a modest curtailment of Iran’s nuclear program, regime leaders insist major sanctions be removed first before they will commit to any agreement. That insistence includes, in writing, an acceptance of Iran’s right to enrich uranium and build additional nuclear power plants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already called the proposed deal by the West on limited sanctions relief without stopping Iran’s enrichment process a “very bad deal” for the West, but the “deal of the century for Iran.”
While Iran demands removal of major sanctions as a first step, it also demanded that it be permitted to keep its nuclear program. As The Daily Caller reported on Wednesday, Iran set the following conditions:
A recognition of its right to nuclear energy and its need to expand the program.
All rights of Iran under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must be recognized, including uranium enrichment.
Iran must have the right to expand its nuclear power plants and have the right to build anywhere in the country.
To fulfill the needs of these power plants, Iran must have the right to build further facilities for uranium enrichment anywhere in the country, whether in a huge desert or under soaring mountains, and be able to increase the number of centrifuges.
Iran must have the right to export nuclear fuel and not be required to import such for its facilities.
The last report from Tehran suggests that talks were temporarily halted between Kerry, the EU’s first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. But after a reported phone call between President Obama and Netanyahu, the negotiations continued into the night.
It doesn’t appear that this roadblock is going to actually prevent a deal, but diplomats say that the talks will continue into next week now before a deal can be reached.
That could be a major problem, withCongress up in arms about the deal (citing Israeli objections) and Rep. Ed Royce (R – CA) is planning to hold hearings on Wednesday, meaning those talks could wind up continuing in parallel with Congressional hearings meant explicitly to derail them.
Though officials wouldn’t confirm what the obstacle to the deal was, some rumors are that it surrounds the Arak heavy water reactor. The reactor is being constructed to replace the aging Tehran Research Reactor as a source of medical and industrial isotopes.
The US has complained that the reactor would produce plutonium as a waste product, though Iran hasn’t built any of the reprocessing facilities to try to recover such waste, and is reportedly willing to ship the waste abroad, as they are with the Bushehr reactor.
The latest round of P5+1 talks with Iran on their civilian nuclear program is reported to be on the cusp of a “breakthrough,” as Secretary of State John Kerry is making anunscheduled trip to Geneva to participate.
Though details are still scant, the reports of a “six month” deal also appear to be true, and Iranian officials are talking up the ideaof getting at least some of the sanctions lifted in this deal.
That’s going to be difficult with Congressional hawks so loudly opposed to any deal with Iran, but the talks seem to have some significant momentum, and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif says he is hopeful about a basic framework being agreed to, leading to an eventual permanent agreement.
Expect much of the early relief to Iran coming in the form of unfreezing assets, as the Obama Administration’s attempts to sell a deal to Israel, and by extension the US Congress, remains a work in progress, and any significant changes in the sanctions themselves will fuel yet more anger about the sudden outbreak of diplomacy.
The disconnect on Iranian diplomacy between Geneva and DC couldn’t be more stark, and while major progress is being reported at the Geneva P5+1 talks, Senate hawks are hard at work trying to put more roadblocks in front of any possible deal.
The Senate Banking Committee has confirmed it’sset to move ahead with a new round of sanctions, with Sen. Tim Johnson (D – SD) saying the Senate leadership wanted to bill put together quickly. President Obama has urged a brief lull in new sanctions so as not to completely sabotage the ongoing talks.
The lack of credibility to US pledges to ease sanctions in any deal are certainly making things more difficult, and with the Congressional votes seemingly strongly against any deal, it’s simply not clear if the administration can back up what they’re promising in Geneva.
Sen. Bob Corker (R – TN) is hoping to remove any doubt about that with his own proposal, which would flat out ban lifting any sanctions on Iran unless the Iranian government first unilaterally capitulates to Israeli demands to scrap the entirety of the civilian program.
Long before a nuclear deal was in reach, the U.S. was quietly lifting some of the financial pressure on Iran, according to a Daily Beast investigation. How the sanctions were softened.
The Obama administration began softening sanctions on Iran after the election of Iran’s new president in June, months before the current round of nuclear talks in Geneva or the historic phone call between the two leaders in September.
Rouzbeh Jadidoleslam/AP
While those negotiations now appear on the verge of a breakthrough the key condition for Iran—relief from crippling sanctions—began quietly and modestly five months ago.
A review of Treasury Department notices reveals that the U.S. government has all but stopped the financial blacklisting of entities and people that help Iran evade international sanctions since the election of its president, Hassan Rouhani, in June.
On Wednesday Obama said in an interview with NBC News the negotiations in Geneva “are not about easing sanctions.” “The negotiations taking place are about how Iran begins to meet its international obligations and provide assurances not just to us but to the entire world,” the president said.
But it has also long been Obama’s strategy to squeeze Iran’s economy until Iran would be willing to trade relief from sanctions for abandoning key elements of its nuclear program.
One way Obama has pressured Iran is through isolating the country’s banks from the global financial sector, the networks that make modern international commerce possible. This in turn has led Iran to seek out front companies and cutouts to conduct routine international business, such as selling its crude oil.
In this cat and mouse game, the Treasury Department in recent years has routinely designated new entities as violators of sanctions, forcing Iran to adjust in turn. In the six weeks prior to the Iranian elections in June, the Treasury Department issued seven notices of designations of sanctions violators that included more than 100 new people, companies, aircraft, and sea vessels.
Since June 14, however, when Rouhani was elected, the Treasury Department has only issued two designation notices that have identified six people and four companies as violating the Iran sanctions.
When an entity is designated as a sanctions violator it can be catastrophic. Banks and other investors almost never take the risk of doing business with the people and companies on a Treasury blacklist because of the potential reputational harm and the prospect they could lose access to U.S. financial markets.
“Sounds like Obama decided to enter the Persian nuclear bazaar to haggle with the masters of negotiation.”
A Treasury spokesman contacted by The Daily Beast said the effectiveness of sanctions should be measured by their results and not the number of entities designated. (A White House spokesman declined to comment, directing inquiries to the Treasury.) The Treasury spokesman also said that the significant financial pressure on Iran in recent years changed the calculus of the country’s leaders and led to the election of Rouhani, who is a former nuclear negotiator and is considered more moderate than his predecessor.
“In the months since the Iranian election we have continued to pursue our unwavering goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” the spokesman said. “We have not let up on vigorous sanctions enforcement one iota. This includes new designations of sanctions evaders as well as other steps to address potential sanctions evasion.”
But the enforcement of sanctions, experts said, is very different than the process of designating new violators. To start, sanctions enforcement means the levying of fines or other legal measures against those people and entities already designated by the Treasury Department as a violator.
The designation process is more proactive. “The designations are important because they identify illicit actors that are abusing the international financial sector in addition to signaling the U.S. intention to isolate Iran’s economy,” said Avi Jorisch, a former U.S. Treasury official who has worked closely on Iran sanctions and has advocated for toughening these sanctions since leaving government.
Advocates of sanctions relief also acknowledge that the administration has pursued a policy of quietly lessening financial pressure on Iran. They argue that was a logical policy when married to the process of renewing diplomatic negotiations with Iran, which according to the Wall Street Journal this week, has been going on for several months.
“Before the election there were a lot of these designations,” said Trita Parsi, the executive director of the National Iranian American Council, a group that has advocated for ending sanctions on Iran since. “Their impact was probably not decisive, but it was a way for the White House to signal to the Iranians and Congress they were going forward with the sanctions train.” Parsi continued: “After the election [the Obama administration] wanted to give the opposite signal, a pause. The last thing you would want to do is let the sanctions train go forward and potentially scuttle an opportunity that could have been there.”
Following the Iranian elections, there were also a lot of changes inside the Iranian government, making the task of designating officials and entities a bit more tricky, Parsi said. But a significant part of the administration’s decision, in Parsi’s opinion, was the belief that continuing a high pace of designations would “undermine the signal that they were trying to send, that there was an opening.”
Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, an organization that has worked closely with Congress and the administration on devising the current Iranian sanctions, said the slow pace of designations was only one kind of sanctions relief Obama has been offering Iran.
“For five months, since Rouhani’s election, the United States has offered Iran two major forms of sanctions relief,” Dubowitz said. “First there’s been a significant slowdown in the pace of designations while the Iranians are proliferating the number of front companies and cutouts to bust sanctions.”
The second kind of relief Dubowitz said the White House had offered Iran was through its opposition to new Iran sanctions legislation supported by both parties in Congress.
By Dubowitz’s estimates, Iran is now selling between 150,000 and 200,000 barrels of oil per day on the black market, meaning that Iran has profited from the illicit sale of over 35 million barrels of oil since Rouhani took office, with little additional measures taken by the United States to counter it.
“Sounds like Obama decided to enter the Persian nuclear bazaar to haggle with the masters of negotiation and has had his head handed to him,” Dubowitz said.
Kerry making unplanned visit to Geneva for Iran talks
Jamal Nasrallah / EPA
Secretary of State John Kerry gestures during a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh in Amman, in Amman, Jordan, Thursday.
By Ann Curry, Special Correspondent, NBC News
GENEVA — Secretary of State John Kerry will make an unplanned trip to Geneva Friday afternoon — where intense nuclear negotiations are underway — to meet with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, multiple sources including U.S. officials tell NBC News.
Nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 nations — U.S., Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany — resumed in Geneva Thursday morning.
Secretary of State John Kerry's meeting is one sign of a potential deal on nuclear controls. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Word of Kerry's impending arrival is the strongest sign so far of an agreement on a first step toward a comprehensive final deal.
Such a deal would be a historic move — a first in 35 years of strained relations between the United States and Iran.
He expressed that optimism amid increasing pressure on Iran to halt advancements in its nuclear program in return for what a senior U.S. official calls "very limited, temporary and reversible" relief from economic sanctions, as a "first step" agreement, ahead of a comprehensive final deal.
Asked about that pressure, Zarif said negotiators are trying to strike a "balance" between how much sanction relief would be granted and what kind of limits would be imposed on Iran's nuclear program.
Martial Trezzini / Keystone via AP
The European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, walks next to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif at the U.N. offices Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland.
The United States has long wanted Iran to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, halt the introduction of more advanced centrifuges, allow United Nations inspectors wider and more spontaneous access, and stop the construction of the Arak heavy water reactor, which could be another way of building a bomb.
Zarif reiterated to NBC News that Iran would never agree to completely suspend its nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful. But he indicated there were areas of compromise possible, including Iran allowing greater transparency in inspections to prove that it is not seeking to build a nuclear weapon.
Despite the struggle over the details, Zarif agreed with the United States on at least one point: that the outline of a deal was within reach.
"I think the outline of a deal can be written down easily. The details of the first step can also be written down," Zarif said. "It has been within reach for many days now. But the details of the first step may be a bit more difficult, but I think serious negotiations over several hours can do the job."
He predicted political fallout from hardliners in both Iran and the United States if any first step agreement is reached, and he appealed to President Barack Obama for "the courage and leadership that is required to resolve this issue."
"What we want to see from President Obama is the courage and leadership that is required to resolve this issue," Zarif said. "I can tell him that the resolution is at hand -it's reachable. We can have an agreement."
Meanwhile, U.S. ally Israel expressed concerns over the ongoing Geneva talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal that is taking shape would be "a mistake of historic proportions," as it would allow Iran to maintain the capability to build nuclear weapons.
But Zarif insisted his country was not interested in procuring nuclear weapons.
"It's a mistake of historical proportions to try to trade in fear to create an atmosphere of tension, and I believe it would be an even bigger historical mistake to listen to him (Netanyahu)" he said.
"It takes audacity for someone who possesses 200 warheads, with a history of aggression against its neighbors, with the worst history of violation of the human rights of the Palestinians, to talk about a peaceful nuclear program that has been proven peaceful time and again and is under international monitoring, is under international supervision," Zarif added, referring to Israel.
"The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] has no access to various Israeli nuclear facilities, so I think if they want to address the problem of non-proliferation, the problem of nuclear weapons, they got to start at home."
At the end of the day's official meetings in Geneva Thursday, talks extended deep into the evening, NBC News has learned, in an effort to work out details in preparations for Kerry's arrival Friday.
It would appear a first-step deal will hinge on a meeting between Kerry and Zarif.
It the two can reach an agreement, it would be a historic breakthrough in the decades-long stalemate over Iran's nuclear program, and in the relationship between the United States and Iran — 35 years after the hostage crisis.
Israel’s most painful lesson from the two-day Geneva conference on Iran’s nuclear program is that the man who guaranteed to defend Israel’s security, President Barack Obama, is now marching hand in hand with Tehran towards a nuclear-armed Iran.
This is the reality behind the fuss and excitement surrounding the signing ceremony in Geneva Friday, Nov. 8, and the slick words gushing forth to put a convincing face on the interim deal put together between Iran and the Six Powers Thursday and Friday.
President Obama broke the news to NBC Thursday night: “There is a possibility of a phased agreement, the first part of which would stop Iran from further expanding its nuclear program. We are offering modest relief from the sanctions, but keeping the core sanctions in place, so that if it turned out during the course of the six months when we're trying to resolve some bigger issues that they're backing out of the deal or… not giving us assurances that they're not developing a nuclear weapon, we can crank that dial back up," the US president said.
Friday morning, when US Secretary of State John Kerry was heading for Geneva to join Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for the final signing stage, it was still unclear what Iran is willing to concede.
This is because no one was ready to admit exactly what the agreed “freeze” applied to and how far it is from “dismantlement “
Iran had in fact already achieved all the makings of a nuclear bomb and was holding them in place ready for assembly. Uranium enrichment will furthermore continue although at a low grade.
At any moment, Tehran may decide to assemble those components and produce a bomb and has the capacity to do so before the US or Israel catch on to what is happening.
The accord to be signed Friday elevates Iran automatically to the rank of a nuclear power, which already holds Syria, Iraq and Lebanon under its sway. The radical alliance binding Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Syria’s Bashar Assad and Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah has triumphed. Israel fell down badly by trusting the Obama administration to break this axis up before it spreads more violence and havoc across the region.
Before setting off for Geneva, Secretary Kerry warned Israel that the breakdown of talks with the Palestinians would result in a third “intifada.”
But he made no reference to the Iranian nuclear intifada now looming over Israel and the entire Middle East.
Before coming to Jerusalem, the US Secretary visited Riyadh. But there was nothing much for him to discuss with King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, because both had accepted that there is no chance of turning the Obama administration from its chosen track which results in Iran enjoying the freedom to pursue a nuclear weapon amid progressively enhanced sanctions relief.
Some time ago, the Saudis took what they saw as appropriate preemptive action.
On Jan. 1, 2013, Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and defense minister, traveled to Islamabad and commissioned Pakistan to build nuclear weapons for a multibillion fee. Those weapons were assembled in Pakistan and held ready for transfer to Saudi Arabia at a moment’s notice.
Last week, former Israeli Military Intelligence (AMAN) chief Amos Yadlin told a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, “the Saudis will not wait one month. They have already paid for the bomb and will go to Pakistan and bring back what they need.”
So the countdown to a nuclear Saudi Arabia begins with the signing of the "interim" Iranian nuclear deal in Geneva. Its first result will be the deployment of a Sunni Muslim Arab nuke versus a Shiite Iranian bomb. Israel’s reputed nuclear program remains in its decades-old holding position.
The burgeoning nuclear standoff will inject a further unstable element in the volatile Middle East.
Washington has not chosen that road out of stupidity or blindness as some dismayed Israeli officials are saying. The plan appears to be not only to present Israel with a nuclear challenge, but to put a damper on Russia’s strategic and military momentum in the region.
Even if this calculus proves correct it will take years for it to unfold.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu admitted he was stunned by the terms of the accord negotiated with Iran, calling it a “monumental, historic mistake” and “Iran’s deal of the century.”
Tehran has conceded nothing and receives limited sanctions relief, he said.
The interim agreement, said Netanyahu, buries the possibility of a peaceful final accord for dismantling Iran's nuclear program once and for all. “Israel is not obliged by this agreement and will do everything it needs to do to defend itself and defend the security of its people,” he said.
His words carried two messages:
1. Israel has abandoned its trust in Barack Obama ever complying with his pledge to its security and will henceforth act on its own.
2. Israel’s only remaining course now is to exercise its military option against Iran’s nuclear capability – whether openly or covertly.
For five years, Binyamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned the world that Israel was ready for military action to preempt a nuclear-armed Iran. Each successive repetition was received on a diminishing scale of credibility. His response to the Geneva accord is therefore anyone’s guess.
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It doesn’t appear that this roadblock is going to actually prevent a deal, but diplomats say that the talks will continue into next week now before a deal can be reached.
“The aim of both sides is to sign the agreement,” according to Iran’s chief negotiator Abbas Araqchi, and while a lot of details still need to be worked out an interim deal may well be signed on Friday.
The Senate Banking Committee has confirmed it’sset to move ahead with a new round of sanctions, with Sen. Tim Johnson (D – SD) saying the Senate leadership wanted to bill put together quickly. President Obama has urged a brief lull in new sanctions so as not to completely sabotage the ongoing talks.
activities and acceptance of its right to nuclear enrichment before any agreement can be reached.
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