BICOM

Talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) have been extended for a third time with the two sides still unable to agree a long-term accord over Iran’s nuclear development.

Having agreed a framework to a comprehensive nuclear deal in April, Iran and the P5+1 are negotiating to conclude a long-term Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. However, two deadlines to reach such agreement had already slipped before yesterday’s revised deadline also passed by. The latest delay means that if a deal is concluded, US Congress will have 60 days to consider the agreement rather than 30, potentially holding back its implementation.

Speaking in Vienna where talks are ongoing, US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters that “we will not rush, and we will not be rushed” into a final agreement, but that Iran needed to make “tough decisions.” He insisted that the process is not “open-ended” and that “We can’t wait forever for the decision to be made … We are absolutely prepared to call an end to this process.”

Also expressing a degree of urgency, European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini told CNN, “We are very close, but if the important, historical decisions are not made in the next hours we won’t have an agreement.” Summarising, she said, “The text is done. It’s already there. It’s a matter of yes or no.”

Iranian state television yesterday claimed that, “The West has toughened its stance within last few hours, and in a clear U-turn even refuses to accept Iran’s nuclear rights.” However, multiple media reports, including those in the Times and Guardian suggest that the main point of disagreement is Iran’s eleventh hour demand that the P5+1 commit to lifting a United Nations conventional arms embargo from 2007. Tehran already provides material support to Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria’s President Assad and rebels in Yemen. Lifting the embargo would increase Iran’s potential to destabilise the region.