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               Kerry, Zarif to Seek Boost in Nuclear Negotiations

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Geneva for talks with Iranian
   Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about speeding up the international
   negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

   Kerry said earlier this week that Wednesday's meeting will be a chance
   for the diplomats to assess where the two sides stand.

   It has been two months since Iran and the group of countries that
   includes the U.S., Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany decided
   to extend the negotiations after failing to agree by their self-imposed
   November deadline.

   Now, about six weeks remain before their goal of having a framework in
   place for a deal that would address concerns about possible military
   applications of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for easing
   sanctions that have hurt the country's economy.

   The deadline for a final agreement is July 1.

   Middle East expert James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation said that
   "at best," the P5+1 group could get "a great extension of the time
   needed for Iran to stage a nuclear breakout. But it won't be able to
   get guarantees that there will be no breakout."

   Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. The
   United States and its allies do not believe this claim and have slapped
   economic sanctions on Iran that experts say are seriously hurting the
   country's economy.

   "Oil exports from Iran have been cut roughly from 2.5 million to 1
   million barrels a day," said Allen Keiswetter of Washington's Middle
   East Institute. "Furthermore, the price of oil has now dropped by about
   50 percent. So, you are looking at Iran receiving 20 to 25 percent of
   the revenues that it did previously."

   Tehran's uranium enrichment capacity and the speed at which economic
   sanctions should be lifted are reported to be the major outstanding
   differences between the two sides. Iran may be trying to use the
   negotiations to ease the economic sanctions without giving up much of
   its nuclear capability, according to Phillips.

   "Iran wants to wriggle out of sanctions without foreclosing its nuclear
   options," he said. "That is, it wants to weaken sanctions as much as
   possible but it doesn't want to definitively give up its nuclear
   option. And unfortunately, that won't work for the U.S."

   But other experts are more optimistic about the prospects for
   agreement, saying both sides stand to gain a lot if they succeed.

   "We are very eager to stop all the routes for Iran to obtain a nuclear
   weapon, and this would be a big, big victory," Keiswetter said. "On the
   Iranian side, it could lift the sanctions and open up routes for Iran
   to reintegrate into the world economy."

   Both Iran and the United States have expressed hope they will make
   progress at the upcoming talks. However, they may not agree with each
   other's version of what the progress may look like.

   Kokab Farhsori contributed to this report.
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   otiations/2597542.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kerry-zarif-seek-boost-in-nuclear-negotiations/2597542.html