Talks between six world powers and Iran came to an end Sunday morning without a hoped-for deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear research programs.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said “significant progress” had been made, even though French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reportedly made some last-minute objections that the proposed measures didn’t go far enough, Sky News reported.
“There is no question in my mind that we are closer now as we leave Geneva that we were when we came and that with good work and good faith over the course of the next weeks we can in fact secure our goal,” Mr. Kerry said.
France wouldn’t soften its request that Iran reduce its stockpiles of 20 percent uranium by oxidizing it. Mr. Fabius also rejected a joint list of demands on Iran, saying they were too generous to result in sanctions relief, The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Kerry told reporters there were “certain issues that we needed to work through.”
“We’re grateful to the French for the work we did together,” he said.
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Negotiations will resume Nov. 20 with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and top European Union diplomat Catherine Ashton in attendance, but the other delegations will be led by senior civil servants instead of foreign ministers, AP reported.
Iran’s Arak reactor southeast of Tehran could produce enough plutonium for several nuclear weapons a year once it goes online, which is expected to happen next year, the report said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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