Intensive Negotiations Between Iran and 1+5 Ahead of Nuclear Agreement Deadline

With less than three days remaining for Iran and the 1+5 group to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement, the foreign ministers of Iran and Western countries held multiple intensive negotiations on Friday, November 30. Reports indicate that Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, met and discussed with his British counterpart, Philip Hammond, in Vienna on Friday afternoon, and Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister, also visited Zarif. Continuing the intensive consultations of the Iranian negotiating team in Vienna, Zarif held his second trilateral meeting on Friday morning with Catherine Ashton, the EU representative, and John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, after which he held a five-way meeting with his British and French counterparts, as well as Ashton and the head of the German negotiating team. The U.S. Secretary of State is scheduled to meet again with his Iranian counterpart in the presence of Ashton tonight. Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, announced on Friday evening that John Kerry is expected to return to Paris for consultations with European officials after his bilateral and multilateral meetings in Vienna. Reuters also reported a phone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry. Additionally, Philip Hammond met with the foreign ministers of other 1+5 countries in Vienna on Friday. Hammond's remarks after this meeting received widespread coverage in international news agencies as he emphasized the existence of significant differences between the parties ahead of the deadline for the nuclear agreement. He stated, 'There are complex issues, and significant differences remain between the parties. We will have discussions with our experts on technical matters and will resume [negotiations] at the end of this week.' On the other hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry emphasized in their phone conversation on Friday that 'more efforts' are needed to reach an agreement by the deadline. The Russian Foreign Ministry also mentioned that if progress is made in the negotiations, there is a possibility of a meeting between the foreign ministers of Iran and the 1+5 countries. Meanwhile, French news agency reported Sergey Lavrov's statements at a press conference in Moscow, where he said that the necessary elements for an agreement between Iran and the global powers are in place. He stated, 'All elements of an agreement are currently in place, and now it is the diplomats' task to carefully create a package from these elements.' Lavrov also urged the negotiators in Vienna to demonstrate their political will to achieve a balanced outcome and emphasized that he believes that ultimately 'common sense and the desire to reach an agreement on this long-standing issue' will prevail.