Talks with Iran, Super Powers Stall

Russ Jones | Christian Press | Updated: May 19, 2014

Talks with Iran, Super Powers Stall

Iran and six nations met in Vienna with hopes of coming to an agreement concerning Tehran’s nuclear program. According to Reuters the super powers made little progress as the July 20 deadline looms.

Leaders from the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia met with Iranian officials at the United Nations world headquarters in Austria.

"We believe there needs to be some additional realism," a senior U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, declining to provide specifics on what issues had caused the failed talks. "Time is not unlimited here."

"In any negotiation there are good days and bad days, there are ups and downs, this has been a moment of great difficulty but one that was not entirely unexpected," the official added. "We are just at the beginning of the drafting process and we have a significant way to go."

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqch, told reporters, while the three-day meeting did not make progress, it was nonetheless productive.

“It doesn’t mean we are disappointed. It doesn’t mean that we have failed. No, we will continue our negotiations,” Araqch told Euronews. “This was the first round of real negotiations. In previous rounds of negotiations, we had only brainstorming sessions. The goal of this round was to draft an agreement. We feel that differences are still there and we should wait for the time when we can start drafting, when the positions are closer together.”

An unnamed US official said talks with Iran would resume sometime in June.

 

Publication date: May 19, 2014



Talks with Iran, Super Powers Stall