U.S. Stands Firm On Iran Deadline

WSJ

VIENNA—U.S. officials said they weren’t seeking to extend nuclear negotiations with Iran beyond a Nov. 24 deadline, as Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart on Wednesday.

The negotiations here were part of what is expected to be an intense final push for a comprehensive agreement between global powers and Tehran that seeks to curtail Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions.

U.S. officials in Vienna said they were “chipping away” on a draft of a final agreement but that significant gaps remained.

Pressure to complete a deal has increased in recent weeks due to the territorial gains made by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Both Washington and Tehran are aiding Iraq’s government in fighting the Sunni extremist group and have suggested they could coordinate the fight if a formal nuclear deal could be reached.

Some Iranian, Russian and European diplomats involved in the negotiations have said in recent weeks that there was a strong chance the negotiations could be extended beyond late November, due to the sizable differences that remain. But U.S. officials taking part in the Vienna talks said the Obama administration remained committed to the Nov. 24 deadline.

“We are still focused...on Nov. 24th, and getting an agreement by the 24th,” said a senior U.S. official. “We are all keeping the pressure on ourselves—this includes Iran.”

One major difference concerns the future size of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which produces nuclear fuel usable in both civilian and military programs, U.S. and Iranian officials say.

Western officials seek to limit Iran’s capacity, potentially holding it to below 10,000 centrifuge machines, which enrich uranium into nuclear fuel. Iran maintains it is entitled to a much larger program that it says would be used only for peaceful purposes.

Mr. Kerry held more than six hours of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and the head of the international bloc negotiating with Iran, Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign-affairs chief.

The negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, a bloc known as the P5+1, will continue on Thursday, but without Mr. Kerry.

Some outside experts believe Iran’s negotiating position could be undermined by the plunge of global energy prices. Western sanctions have cut Tehran’s oil experts in half over the past two years.

And Iran’s revenue is seen falling even further by energy prices that have dropped to below $80 a barrel from well over $100 a barrel in previous years.