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Iran, US go face-to-face in crunch nuclear talks

19 November 2014 22:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iran and the US held one-on-one talks Wednesday as a deadline loomed to reach a mammoth nuclear deal, seeking common ground on the two crucial remaining issues: uranium enrichment and sanctions relief, APA reports quoting AFP.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and other foreign ministers from the six powers meanwhile decided to hold off for at least another 24 hours joining the final round of negotiations before Monday's cut-off point.

Kerry remained in London before talks in Paris Thursday with the foreign ministers of France -- widely seen as one of the six powers with the toughest stance on Iran -- and of Saudi Arabia, itself no friend of Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is a crucial player in the talks, will only attend if there is sufficient progress, Moscow's lead negotiator Sergei Ryabkov told Russian media.

"Right now a lot depends on Kerry's visit. Reaching a deal depends on the willingness and ability of the United States to lift sanctions" on Iran, RIA Novosti quoted a Russian source as saying.

Upping the ante, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has been in Vienna since Tuesday, said a deal was "possible" but only if the six powers did not ask for too much.

That view was echoed Wednesday by President Hassan Rouhani.

"If the other side shows the political will to reach an accord and doesn't make excessive demands, a deal could be done," he said on his website.

But Kerry, who held the latest in a string of meetings with Zarif in Oman last week, put the onus on Iran.

"It is imperative that Iran works with us with all possible effort to prove to the world that the programme is peaceful," Kerry said in London on Tuesday.