The White House said Monday that there’s no firm timetable on reaching a final nuclear agreement with Iran, and Secretary of State John Kerry and other U.S. officials will remain in Vienna as long as negotiations remain constructive.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that if a final deal is not reached by the end of the day Monday, Iran and the U.S. — along with America’s partners in the P5 plus 1 — will extend the interim deal that halted parts of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for some relief from economic sanctions.
That interim deal already has been extended numerous times, and Mr. Earnest hinted that it could remain in effect for days, or even weeks.
“Obviously if we could reach a final agreement that would supersede the interim agreement. But the talks continue in Vienna. The thing I can tell you is they have made genuine progress in these conversations,” Mr. Earnest told reporters. “If it’s necessary for [talks] to continue conversations and the conversations remain useful, the negotiating team will remain in Vienna … If the talks are not completed today, then the interim agreement will be extended again.”
The two sides reportedly still are grappling with whether to lift a United Nations arms embargo on Iran, as well as whether Tehran will be forced to detail its history of pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Still, Mr. Earnest said the list of differences is shrinking.
“As the negotiations have gone on over the last couple weeks, what started out as a rather long list of differences has slowly … narrowed. That’s an indication we’re making progress toward an agreement,” he said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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