Reuters
Lausanne, Switzerland
US Secretary of State John Kerry and his German and French counterparts yesterday extended marathon talks in Switzerland for a second day beyond a self-imposed deadline to reach a preliminary agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme.
A diplomat close to the talks said last night that a deal could be announced within hours but had not yet been reached, and the talks could still collapse.
Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced they would stay at least until today.
In a potentially hopeful sign, French Foreign Secretary Laurent Fabius returned for more talks after flying back to Paris the previous day because progress had been too slow.
Six world powers - the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - aim to stop Iran from gaining the capacity to develop a nuclear bomb. Tehran wants to lift international sanctions that have crippled its economy, while preserving what it says it its right to peaceful nuclear technology.
The sides were meant to reach a preliminary accord in the Swiss city of Lausanne which would provide an outline for a final deal to be reached by June 30. The preliminary deal was meant to be achieved by midnight on March 31, but the sides are under pressure not to go home empty handed.
The powers and Iran said they had moved closer, but both sides accused the other of refusing to offer proposals that would break the deadlock.
Washington said it was willing to walk away from the talks unless the sides could agree on a preliminary framework.
The talks represent the biggest chance of rapprochement between Tehran and Washington since the Iranian revolution in 1979, but face scepticism from conservatives in both Washington and Tehran.
Even if there is a preliminary deal, it will be fragile and incomplete and there is no guarantee that talks on a final deal would not collapse in the coming months.
After missing the self-imposed March 31 deadline, the negotiators ended talks in the early morning hours of yesterday with an air of chaos, disunity and cacophony as delegations scrambled to get contradictory viewpoints across.
Both Kerry and Germany’s Steinmeier announced their intention to spend another night in Lausanne to build on the progress made.
US Secretary of State John Kerry checking his watch outside the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne during a break in Iran nuclear programme talks ye
