Western ‘haggling’ a risk to nuclear deadline: Rouhani
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani gives a press conference on the second anniversary of his election, in Tehran, Iran on Saturday.
AFP, Tehran :
Iran’s president warned Saturday that haggling by world powers could jeopardise the June 30 deadline for a nuclear agreement, admitting many differences remain on the details of the potentially historic deal.
Hassan Rouhani, who has placed his credibility on ending more than a decade of international concern that the Islamic republic is developing a nuclear bomb, also acknowledged sanctions would not be lifted immediately under the accord.
He made the remarks in Tehran a day after Russia’s senior negotiator spoke of a “very worrying” slowdown in painstaking diplomacy which has lasted 21 months.
With the finishing line in sight, Rouhani, speaking at a press conference marking two years since his unexpected election victory, accused the other side of agreeing terms in one meeting only to try and improve on them during later discussions.
“They start to haggle,” he said, without naming any of the six global powers in the talks.
“If the other party respects the agreed framework and does not add other demands, the differences can be resolved but if they choose the path of haggling then it can prolong the negotiations,” he added.
Iran and the P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany) agreed the outlines of the nuclear deal on April 2 after intensive talks went past a March 31 deadline.
In Washington on Friday, State Department spokesman Jeffrey Rathke admitted the process was proving “complicated”, but the US believes a deal can still be reached by the end of June.
A day earlier French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius — seen as a hawk in the negotiations — said tighter UN inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, under an additional protocol, were not yet sewn up.
Iranian officials have insisted there can be no inspections of military sites and Rouhani appeared to muddy the waters further.
“Iran will not allow its secrets to be disclosed or put in the hands of others,” he said, noting there can be “some access” but not detailing which sites he was referring to.
Iran’s president warned Saturday that haggling by world powers could jeopardise the June 30 deadline for a nuclear agreement, admitting many differences remain on the details of the potentially historic deal.
Hassan Rouhani, who has placed his credibility on ending more than a decade of international concern that the Islamic republic is developing a nuclear bomb, also acknowledged sanctions would not be lifted immediately under the accord.
He made the remarks in Tehran a day after Russia’s senior negotiator spoke of a “very worrying” slowdown in painstaking diplomacy which has lasted 21 months.
With the finishing line in sight, Rouhani, speaking at a press conference marking two years since his unexpected election victory, accused the other side of agreeing terms in one meeting only to try and improve on them during later discussions.
“They start to haggle,” he said, without naming any of the six global powers in the talks.
“If the other party respects the agreed framework and does not add other demands, the differences can be resolved but if they choose the path of haggling then it can prolong the negotiations,” he added.
Iran and the P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany) agreed the outlines of the nuclear deal on April 2 after intensive talks went past a March 31 deadline.
In Washington on Friday, State Department spokesman Jeffrey Rathke admitted the process was proving “complicated”, but the US believes a deal can still be reached by the end of June.
A day earlier French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius — seen as a hawk in the negotiations — said tighter UN inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, under an additional protocol, were not yet sewn up.
Iranian officials have insisted there can be no inspections of military sites and Rouhani appeared to muddy the waters further.
“Iran will not allow its secrets to be disclosed or put in the hands of others,” he said, noting there can be “some access” but not detailing which sites he was referring to.
