Lavrov Joins Geneva Talks and Kerry Reveals: No Agreement 'at this Point' on Iran Nuclear Deal

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World powers and Iran have yet to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear program but are working hard to do so, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday.

"There is not an agreement at this point," Kerry told reporters shortly after arriving in Geneva Friday to help seal what is hoped to be a landmark deal with Tehran.

Kerry, who broke off a Middle East tour to join the ongoing negotiations in the Swiss city, stressed that "there are still some very important issues on the table that are unresolved."

"It is important for those to be properly, thoroughly addressed," he said, adding though that the six world powers leading the talks with Tehran were "working hard" to reach an agreement.

Kerry's comments came on the second and last scheduled day of crunch international talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

The hoped-for agreement -- seen as a first step ahead of further talks on a final deal -- could see Tehran freeze its nuclear efforts for as long as six months in exchange for some relief from the sanctions that have battered its economy.

In addition to Kerry, the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany also arrived Friday following last-minute announcements they would join the talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also canceled a trip to Rome to continue the talks.

The unexpected convening of some of the world's most high-ranking diplomats has sparked widespread hopes that a deal may be in sight.

But Kerry, who is set to meet with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton separately Friday afternoon before a trilateral meeting including Zarif, pointed to continued disagreements and tried to dampen expectations.

"We hope to try to narrow those differences but I don't think anybody should mistake that there are some important gaps that have to be closed," he said.

Meanwhile, Russia's state-owned news agency reported that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov intends to go to Geneva Saturday to join his Western counterparts in the landmark talks.

"Lavrov intends" to go, said an unnamed source quoted by Itar-Tass news agency. "We hope that his participation in the negotiations would help to bring positive results," added the source.

Earlier Friday, Lavrov's spokesman said he had no plans to join the talks.

While he did not explicitly confirm Lavrov's last-minute decision to join the crunch talks, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov told Ria Novosti news agency that the Geneva gathering had been upgraded to a ministerial level.

"Tomorrow, we are counting on achieving long-term results that have been expected by the whole world," he was quoted as saying, adding that none of the participating nations "would want to leave without a positive result."

Earlier on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Kerry he was offering Iran the "deal of the century" as the U.S. top diplomat headed to the talks in Geneva.

Netanyahu vowed that Israel would not be bound by any international agreement on Iran's nuclear program and reserved the right to do whatever is necessary to defend itself -- a clear allusion to a preemptive military strike.

Meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State on the tarmac of Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, the Israeli leader, a fierce opponent of any let-up in sanctions, lashed out at the world powers' cautious rapprochement with Iran and denounced the proposed agreement being hammered out in Switzerland.

Kerry flew in from Amman for a brief stopover in Tel Aviv where he held a two-hour one-to-one meeting with Netanyahu in a bid to soothe Israeli anger ahead of his arrival in Geneva.

"Iran got the deal of the century and the international community got a bad deal, this is a very bad deal. Israel utterly rejects it," Netanyahu told reporters.

"Israel is not obliged by this agreement and Israel will do everything it needs to defend itself and the security of its people."

Israel, which has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, staunchly opposes any easing of sanctions on a country whose leaders in the past have denied the Holocaust and said the Jewish state should cease to exist.

It views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat and has consistently refused to rule out a preemptive military strike to prevent that from happening.

"I understand that the Iranians are walking around very satisfied in Geneva, as well they should be, because they got everything and paid nothing.

"They wanted relief of sanctions after years of a grueling sanctions regime -- they got that -- they are paying nothing because they are not reducing in any way their nuclear enrichment capability," he said of the deal which has not yet been hammered out.

Washington has made clear that Kerry's arrival in Geneva does not signal that there is a done deal with Iran.

"In an effort to help narrow the differences in negotiations, Secretary Kerry will travel to Geneva, Switzerland today at the invitation of EU High Representative Ashton to hold a trilateral meeting with High Representative Ashton and Foreign Minister Zarif on the margins of the P5+1 negotiations," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Western governments -- and Israel -- suspect Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability under cover of its civilian program.

Tehran denies any such ambition and, since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, has made overtures suggesting it is prepared to scale back its enrichment of uranium in return for the easing of crippling Western sanctions.

Washington, which has not had diplomatic relations with Iran for three decades, has repeatedly said it is going into the talks with eyes wide open, seeking to explore the diplomatic possibilities of bringing its suspect nuclear program under international control.

Iran's Zarif was to meet early Friday with Ashton, who is chairing the talks on behalf of the P5+1 -- which groups U.N. Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, with Germany.

So far, Western officials have described the current talks as "substantive" and "productive."

"There is a window of opportunity now that has been created by the Iranian people... and that opportunity needs to be seized," Zarif said after the first day of talks on Thursday.

Iran is anxious for relief from crippling Western economic sanctions that have cut oil revenues by more than half, caused the value of the rial to plunge and pushed inflation above 40 percent.

The West is also keen to seize a rare opportunity to build bridges with Iran after decades of hostility, opening the door to engaging with Tehran on other issues like the conflict in Syria, where Iran has backed President Bashar Assad against insurgents.

Comments 3
Thumb cedre 08 November 2013, 14:40

commedia dell'arte

Thumb beiruti 08 November 2013, 15:36

Read Treacherous Alliance by the writer Trita Parsi and you will know why Netanyahu is so upset. His fear is not that Iran will get a bomb, but that Israel will lose its "strategic alliance" relationship with the US. This alliance is needed as long as Iran is the regional boogie man. But if the US is dealing with Iran, in Iran looking at its nuclear program, then Iran is no boogie man. We only fear and hate those things of which we are ignorant.
Israel wishes the US to remain ignorant of Iran so that we may continue to fear and hate and thus rely on Israel as a "strategic ally". This accord blows the whole Israeli strategy.

Thumb beiruti 08 November 2013, 15:38

Ironically, the Saudis, GCC and Israel find themselves on the same side of this issue. All are equally dismayed over the US-Iranian rapproachment. It could well be that KSA will go under the Israeli nuclear umbrella, unsure anymore of its alliance with the US. Wouldn't that be a change of events??

Its no wonder that Jumblatt's eyes keep rolling about in his head.