Secretary of State John Kerry is sticking around for at least another
day of tense talks over Iran's nuclear program, pushing negotiations
into double overtime -- even as other foreign ministers were sitting it
out and the White House repeated a threat that all sides are "prepared
to walk away."
"We continue to make progress but have not reached a political
understanding," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a brief
statement, revealing that Kerry would once again postpone his departure
from the Switzerland talks and "remain in Lausanne until at least
Thursday morning to continue the negotiations."
Negotiators already had blown past a Tuesday at midnight deadline to
push talks into Wednesday. It remained unclear whether talks continuing
into Thursday could yield a deal framework.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said negotiators were
still facing a "tough struggle," indicating the talks were not likely
to end anytime soon. "Tonight there will be new proposals, new
recommendations. I can't predict whether that will sufficient to enable
an agreement to be reached," he said.
At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif
accused his country's negotiating partners, particularly the U.S., of
having "defective" political will in the talks.
"I've always said that an agreement and pressure do not go together,
they are mutually exclusive," he told reporters. "So our friends need to
decide whether they want to be with Iran based on respect or whether
they want to continue based on pressure."
The foreign ministers of China, France and Russia previously had
departed Lausanne Tuesday night. With talks bleeding into Thursday,
France's foreign minister reportedly was on his way back.
But patience may be wearing thin.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that talks
were "making some progress" but that "we have not yet received the
specific, tangible commitments we and the international community
require."
And he restated a threat that the U.S. and others are prepared to leave the table.
"We're going to drive a hard bargain and we're going to expect Iran
to make serious commitments," he said. "And we're going to give them the
opportunity to do so. But if they don't, the international community,
alongside the United States, is prepared to walk away and consider some
alternatives."
The Obama administration has faced recent calls to do just that.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told Fox News he's concerned the framework
of a deal could allow Iran keep its uranium stockpiles and continue to
enrich uranium in an underground bunker.
"You have to be willing to walk away from the table and to reapply
leverage to Iran," Cotton said. "And the fact that they're not willing
to do that, that we're still sitting in Switzerland negotiating when
three of our negotiating partners have already left just demonstrates to
Iran that they can continue to demand dangerous concessions from the
West."
Speaking on MSNBC, former Democratic presidential candidate Howard
Dean seemed to agree. He said that while President Obama is "right" to
seek a deal, it might be time to "step away" from the table and make
clear that the U.S. is not backing off key positions -- including on
Iran's uranium stockpile and the pace of sanctions relief.
The negotiators' intention is to produce a joint statement outlining
general political commitments to resolving concerns about the Iranians'
nuclear program in exchange for relief of economic sanctions against
Iran. In addition, they are trying to fashion other documents that would
lay out in more detail the steps they must take by June 30 to meet
those goals.
But Iran has pushed back not only on the substance of the commitments
the sides must make but to the form in which they will make them,
demanding that it be a general statement with few specifics. That is
politically unpalatable for the Obama administration which must convince
a hostile Congress that it has made progress in the talks so lawmakers
do not enact new sanctions that could destroy the negotiations.
Zarif said the result of this round of talks "will not be more than a statement."
A senior Western official pushed back on that, saying that nothing
about a statement had been decided and that Iran's negotiating partners
would not accept a document that contained no details. The official was
not authorized to speak to the negotiations by name and spoke on
condition of anonymity.
Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi named differences on
sanctions relief as one dispute -- but also suggested some softening of
Tehran's long-term insistence that all sanctions on his country be
lifted immediately once a final deal takes effect.
He told Iranian TV that economic, financial, oil and bank sanctions
imposed by the U.S., the European Union and others should be done away
with as "the first step of the deal."
Alluding to separate U.N. sanctions he said a separate "framework" was needed for them.
Negotiations have already been twice extended since an interim
agreement between Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain,
France and Germany was concluded in 2013. President Obama and other
leaders, including Iran's, have said they are not interested in a third
extension.
But if the parties agree only to a broad framework that leaves key
details unresolved, Obama can expect stiff opposition at home from
members of Congress who want to move forward with new, stiffer Iran
sanctions. Lawmakers had agreed to hold off on such a measure through
March while the parties negotiated. The White House says new sanctions
would scuttle further diplomatic efforts to contain Iran's nuclear work
and possibly lead Israel to act on threats to use military force to
accomplish that goal.