国际英语新闻:Senior US Official: Iran Nuclear Talks May Miss Deadline

STATE DEPARTMENT/WASHINGTON—A senior U.S. administration official says Iran nuclear negotiators may not make a June 30 deadline for a final agreement.

The official said negotiators are expected to be “close” to an agreement on June 30, if they “can get there at all.”

The official commented in a briefing on Thursday, a day before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Vienna, Austria, where talks have been underway.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohamad Javad Zarif, will take part in the talks, as well as other high-level officials from countries that make up the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, the so-called P5+1.

The senior administration official said negotiators remained “committed” to the June 30 deadline but may “miss it by a short bit.” The official added that all of the parties involved in the talks wanted to ensure that the content of an agreement was right.

“If it takes us a little bit past June 30th to have the right content, as I said a moment ago, what matters here is the substance of the deal and we have to get it right,” the official said.

The official described talks as “extremely tough,” and said some of the most difficult issues were among those being addressed. Those issues include the pace of sanctions relief for Iran and “details about access and transparency,” the official said.

Iran reached a framework nuclear deal with the U.S., Russia China, France, Britain and Germany on April 2. Negotiators are now seeking a final agreement that would restrict Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iranian officials favor an immediate lifting of sanctions, if an agreement is reached, while P5+1 negotiators favor phased relief.

The two sides have also had disagreements over access to suspected nuclear sites. Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said Iran will not allow international inspectors to have access to military sites, scientists or documents.

However, in a Wednesday briefing, Secretary of State John Kerry said “what matters to us is what is agreed upon within the four corners of the document.”

“That is what is yet to be determined,” he said.

'Major red lines'

Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made remarks Tuesday on state television, saying Iran would not allow international inspectors access to military sites, scientists or documents.

The Iranian leader rejected limitations on the country’s nuclear program, lasting for 10 or 12 years, as unacceptable. He also demanded international sanctions be lifted as soon as a deal is signed, rather than being phased out.

Kerry said the speech and Khamenei’s comments on his Twitter feed about “major red lines” were “for domestic political consumption” adding “it is not new.”

He said, “What matters … is what is agreed upon within the four corners of a document, and that is what is yet to be determined.”

The secretary said that if Iran fails to abide by what was agreed to in the framework reached in Lausanne, “there will not be an agreement.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest Wednesday acknowledged tough bargaining lies ahead.

"The negotiations continue to be difficult, but there continues to be a good faith effort on both sides to try to complete them in the timetable we’ve laid out," Earnest said. "So, there’s a reason they continue to negotiate, but I don’t want to leave you with the impression that all of the difficult challenges have been resolved."