ALSO IN SATURDAY FORECAST

Iran and 5+1 Powers “Words Away from Interim Agreement”
Rouhani Repeats (on Twitter): We Will Never Seek Nuclear Weapons
Iran Lead Negotiator: Nuclear Deal Not Certain on Saturday
Iran to Convert 20% Uranium, Cap Stock Under Interim Deal

SATURDAY FEATURE

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In a replay of the first nuclear talks in Geneva two weeks ago, Foreign Ministers of the 5+1 Powers are joining Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday in an attempt to complete an interim nuclear deal.

Russia’s Sergei Lavrov arrived in Switzerland on Friday for talks with Zarif and the lead 5+1 negotiator Catherine Ashton, who held a series of four meeting during the day in an attempt to work out a draft text.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Britain’s William Hague, and France’s Laurent Fabius arrived in Geneva on Saturday morning. Germany’s Guido Westerwelle and China’s Wang Yi are also expected.

Diplomats cautioned that the presence of all seven Foreign Ministers did not guarantee a resolution. Two weeks ago — when all were in Geneva except the Chinese Minister — an interim agreement was blocked on the final morning by France.

Diplomatic sources said on Friday night that the chief remaining obstacle to a deal was the status of the Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor, due on-line in late 2014. Two weeks ago, France objected that the reactor’s natural by-product of plutonium could be used in a militarized nuclear program.

Iran and 5+1 Powers “Words Away from Interim Agreement”

Diplomats in Geneva say that text remaining to be negotiated in an interim nuclear deal has been put in brackets and, since Thursday, has been reduced.

“On some issues, it comes down to a single word, but what that word is and what it means is critically important. We have to get this absolutely right,” said a western official.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said:

We have reached the point of writing and it’s difficult because we are insisting on Iran’s national interests and its rights and we don’t want Iran’s rights to get twisted.

This is why we are paying a great deal of attention to words and phrases that each have their own meanings. There will be no agreement until we agree on every single issue.

Picture: Iranian, Chinese, Russian Foreign Ministers Share Laugh Before Saturday Night Meeting

Rouhani Repeats (on Twitter): We Will Never Seek Nuclear Weapons

Iran Lead Negotiator: Nuclear Deal Not Certain on Saturday

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, has cast doubt on whether an interim deal can be reached on Saturday:

Intense and difficult negotiations are under way and it is not clear whether we reach an agreement tonight. The dispute is over the wording.

Iran to Convert 20% Uranium, Cap Stock Under Interim Deal

“Senior Western officials” have confirmed to The New York Times what we knew already about the proposed interim nuclear agreement:

Under the proposed six-month deal that six major powers are negotiating with Iran in Geneva, Iran would eliminate its current stock of uranium enriched to 20 percent by diluting it or turning it into fuel rods or oxide powder, forms that are unusable for weapons….

Iran would be allowed to continue to enrich uranium at much lower levels, to 3.5 percent, the officials said, but would also agree to cap its current stockpile of such uranium, by eliminating, diluting or transforming into fuel as much 3.5 percent uranium as it produces over the six months….

Iran would also agree not to install any more of its faster, second-generation centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, and would not operate the 1,000 or so of these centrifuges already installed but not yet in use. Iran would also agree to more intrusive inspections, to ensure the deal is kept.

Iran has already indicated it would convert the 20% uranium and has held back from introducing the new IR-2M centrifuge in its enrichment plants. It is also in discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency about a modified inspection and supervision framework.

More contentious is likely to be the continuing insistence of the Western officials that Tehran “halt construction, for six months, on the Arak heavy-water reactor”.