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                Critical Juncture Reached in Iran Nuclear Talks

   by VOA News

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with Iranian Foreign
   Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Switzerland as attempts continue to
   reach an Iranian framework nuclear deal by a Tuesday deadline.

   With the looming deadline, Kerry has canceled plans to return to the
   U.S. Sunday for an event he had hoped to attend.

   The Iranian nuclear discussions in Lausanne are at a key juncture with
   both sides saying it is up to the other party to make concessions.

   Zarif said in a Twitter message Saturday that Iran is ready to make a
   good deal and is waiting for his counterparts to do the same. But
   officials from the six world powers involved in the talks say Iran must
   compromise.

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the deal that
   appears to be emerging confirms his fears "and even worse."

   Netanyahu, who has been urging world powers against negotiating with
   Iran, said, "The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis is very dangerous for
   humanity and must be stopped."

   A senior U.S. State Department official said Saturday, "The serious but
   difficult work continues. We expect the pace to intensify as we assess
   if an understanding is possible."

   March 31 deadline

   Iran and the so-called P5+1 - Britain, China, France, Russia, the U.S.
   and Germany - face a March 31 deadline for a framework deal for Iran to
   curb uranium enrichment to keep it from being able to build a nuclear
   bomb. In exchange, sanctions that have ruined the Iranian economy would
   be lifted.

   Iran wants the sanctions ended immediately. But French Foreign Minister
   Laurent Fabius said Saturday there is concern about how to monitor
   whether Iran is complying with the agreement.

   Iran denies wanting to build a nuclear weapon and insists its nuclear
   program is purely peaceful.

   The French and German foreign ministers joined Kerry for talks with
   Zarif Saturday in Lausanne. Their British, Chinese and Russian
   counterparts are set to join the talks later Sunday.

   France, Germany and the United States are three of the six countries
   designated by the U.N. Security Council to conduct the talks. The
   British, Russian and Chinese foreign ministers are expected to join the
   final push to the deadline in the coming days.

   The key goals of the talks, which started two years ago, are to
   verifiably limit Iran's nuclear program to ensure it cannot quickly
   build a nuclear weapon, and to end economic sanctions against it.

   The issues are highly complex and technical, making both sides
   concerned about leaving the other a way out.

   UN, EU conditions

   The sanctions are a web of measures imposed by the United Nations, the
   European Union, the United States and several other countries, and they
   have a variety of conditions and mechanisms attached to them.

   Iran wants all the sanctions lifted as quickly as possible after an
   agreement is reached.  The U.N. negotiators insist on a gradual lifting
   as Iran demonstrates it is complying with its commitments.

   Analyst Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council said Iran
   will insist on at least some sanctions relief immediately.

   "The Iranians, it appears like, want to make sure that the Western side
   agrees to one permanent measure up front, in order to signal its
   seriousness about seeing through this deal, not for now but for the
   next 10 years," Parsi said.

   That could be some of the United Nations sanctions, which Kelsey
   Davenport of the Arms Control Association in Washington, said are
   particularly objectionable for Iran.

   "Iran views these sanctions as illegal, and wants them lifted early in
   an agreement. For Iran, the U.N. Security Council sanctions carry a
   significant stigma. And that's why symbolically lifting them is
   something that Iran has prioritized," Davenport said.

   UN sanctions

   The U.N. sanctions cover weapons, nuclear technology and items with
   military applications, and impose travel bans and asset freezes on some
   Iranian officials. The most recent U.N. sanctions, now five years old,
   include some financial and trade restrictions, but Davenport said they
   have not been the ones that have particularly hurt the Iranian economy.

   "Sanctions from the United States and the EU that target the banking
   sector, the oil sector, investment in Iran, those are the measures that
   have really damaged Iran's economy.  And suspending the lifting those
   sanctions are what will allow Iran's economy to rebuild," Davenport
   said.

   But lifting those sanctions requires action by Western political
   leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, who faces strong
   opposition in Congress to any move to ease pressure on Iran.
   The president has the authority to lift or suspend many of the U.S.
   sanctions on his own, but he will eventually need congressional
   approval to end them.

   That is likely years away, and officials hope opposition will ease if
   Iran is complying with an agreement.

   In any case, none of this is expected to start until later this year.
   As difficult as these talks have been, they are only aimed at agreeing
   on what Secretary Kerry calls "the major elements," with three more
   months of talks planned to work out the details.

   Al Pessin contributed to this report from Lausanne, Switzerland.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/critical-juncture-reached-in-iran-nuclear-talks/2698684.html