BICOM

The latest round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) over Tehran’s nuclear development ended yesterday with crucial differences still in place.

This week’s talks in Vienna were the first within an agreed framework of negotiations to reach a long-term solution to Iran’s nuclear development by July 20. They come after the two sides reached a six-month deal in November under which Iran halted its development of twenty per cent enriched uranium, limiting itself to five per cent enriched material, in return for limited sanctions relief.

However, significant gaps seemingly remain in place following this week’s negotiations. In particular, a senior US official said it’s “going to take some hard work to get to a place where we can find agreement” on the issue of uranium enrichment levels. The same official also highlighted continued disagreement on the future of the Arak heavy water plant, where it is feared plutonium is being produced, which can be utilised to make powerful nuclear warheads, saying “We have long said that we believe that Arak should not be a heavy water reactor as it is, that we did not think that that met the objectives of this negotiation.”

However, when asked whether he expected the negotiations to meet their deadline, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif replied “Yes, I do … I am optimistic about July 20.” A statement from European Union foreign policy chief and head of the P5+1 delegation Catherine Ashton said, “We had substantive and useful discussions, covering a set of issues, including enrichment, the Arak reactor, civil nuclear cooperation and sanctions.”

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz yesterday outlined the long-range capability of Israeli forces, emphasising that locations such as Iran “are not areas that are beyond the IDF’s reach.” His comments follow a speech by Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon in which he indicated that Israel could be forced to act alone to tackle Iran’s nuclear ambitions.