Kerry in Vienna: We Have Difficult Work Ahead

With only four days left until the deadline for drafting a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Saturday, July 6, of the "very difficult work" ahead for diplomats in these final days. According to Hana Kavyani, a Radio Free Europe correspondent in Vienna, Kerry, who initiated the last round of negotiations with the Islamic Republic in Vienna, Austria, alongside his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, cautioned that "we have very difficult work ahead." Kerry further noted that there are "very hard issues" that must be resolved in the remaining days between the Islamic Republic on one side and the members of the P5+1 on the other. Zarif confirmed Kerry's statement by adding, "To make progress, we must work hard." Earlier, Abbas Araqchi, a senior member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, had stated that "some of the solutions" agreed upon in the Lausanne framework to reach a final agreement between Iran and the P5+1 are "not satisfactory," and that "the changing positions of some P5+1 countries" have made reaching a final agreement "much harder." However, Kerry did not respond to this remark in his statements on Saturday. Zarif, who arrived in Vienna before Kerry, had said hours earlier that "time is not important; only reaching a good agreement is important." The eighth round of negotiations for drafting the final agreement on Iran's nuclear program has been ongoing since Wednesday, June 17, at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Iran and the P5+1 in Vienna. This round of negotiations is also taking place amid "intense security measures" that have not been seen before. Meanwhile, it has been reported that Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, will arrive in Vienna on Sunday, July 7, to meet with the foreign ministers present in the city and continue negotiations.