'Big gaps' ahead of talks on Iran's nuclear activities, says John Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry plans to meet Iran's foreign minister in a bid to close what he calls "big gaps" in a deal curtailing Iran's nuclear activities.
US Secretary of State John Kerry plans to meet Iran's foreign minister in a bid to close what he calls "big gaps" in a deal curtailing Iran's nuclear activities.
Kerry is to meet Mohammad Javad Zarif in Oman next Sunday as a November 24 deal deadline approaches.
Kerry disclosed the planned meeting during an interview with Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt.
Asked about the prospects, he declined to give odds for success in the negotiations between Iran and the group known as the P5+1 nations, which consists of China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the United States.
"I'm hopeful, but it's a very tough negotiation," Kerry said. "There are still gaps that are fairly wide on a number of subjects."
He said Iran should not seek to use other issues, such as its role in the fight in Iraq against Islamic State, as leverage in the nuclear negotiations.
Kerry said a final deal needed to curtail four potential pathways to nuclear weapons by Iran. They were the uranium-enrichment facility at Fordo and the one at Natanz, a plutonium heavy water reactor under construction at Arak, and whatever covert facilities Iran may have.
The meeting in Oman's capital, Muscat, will include European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has led the negotiations between world powers and Iran.
The final stage of the negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran are scheduled for Vienna starting on November 18.
