Kerry praises ‘genuine effort’ by all to seal Iran deal

VIENNA — US Secretary of State John Kerry praised on Friday a “genuine effort” by all sides negotiating a nuclear accord with Iran to get the deal done as a new deadline looms.

“We have some tough issues, but there’s been a genuine effort by everybody to be serious about this and to understand the time constraints that we’re working under,” Kerry said as he began a new round of talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Zarif said a lasting nuclear deal with Iran has never been closer. Speaking in English from the balcony of the Viennese hotel hosting the nuclear negotiations, Zarif said at “this 11th hour despite some differences that remain, we have never been closer to a lasting outcome. But there is no guarantee.”

The teams were working “very diligently all day in order to maximize progress” and with “a great sense of purpose in a good-faith effort to make progress. And we are making progress,” the top US diplomat said.

“We will continue to work. Tonight. Tomorrow. Sunday. And we certainly both want to try to see if we can arrive at a conclusion,” Kerry added.

Many of the ministers from the global powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States — negotiating a deal to put a nuclear bomb out of Iran’s reach are due back in Vienna on Sunday ahead of Tuesday’s new deadline for an accord.

“Well we’re just working. I agree. We’re all trying very hard in order to be able to move forward and we have made some progress,” Zarif said.

“There are still tough issues to discuss and to resolve but I think, with political will, we will.”

Ahead of the deadline, the chief negotiators of Iran, the United States and the European Union haggled for six hours until 3:00 am (0100 GMT) early Friday, a senior US official said.

“It feels like the end,” said one Western diplomat. “The technical work is advancing on the main text, on the appendices.”

Russia’s top negotiator Sergei Ryabkov Thursday voiced cautious optimism, saying a complex text and annexes were “91 percent” finished.

“I can’t predict how many hours it will take to resolve this situation. But all parties are of the opinion that this matter will be resolved in the coming days,” Ryabkov, deputy foreign minister, told Russian news agency TASS.

It will be up to the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to verify Iran is sticking to its side of the bargain through enhanced inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

But the P5+1 also want the IAEA to be able to visit sites where there is no declared nuclear material to probe alleged efforts, before 2003 and possibly since, to develop a nuclear weapon in secret.

On Thursday the IAEA chief Yukiya Amano visited Tehran to meet Rouhani, hoping to jumpstart a stalled probe into the so-called “possible military dimensions” of Iran’s activities.

But after he returned, an IAEA statement suggested there had been no breakthrough.

“I believe that both sides have a better understanding on some ways forward, though more work will be needed,” Amano said.

Iran rejects the allegations of a covert grab for a bomb, saying they are based on bogus intelligence provided to a gullible and partial IAEA by the likes of the CIA and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in Vienna, told Iranian media Friday that Tehran was “ready to cooperate with Mr. Amano so that it can be proved that these accusations and claims.. are baseless.”