Amid chest thumping, US and Iran extend talks on nuclear deal
US says it is ready to walk away from a bad nuclear deal and Iran warns it will take the old path if the other side breaches the deal.
US says it is ready to walk away from a bad nuclear deal and Iran warns it will take the old path if the other side breaches the deal.
Even as Iran and six world powers agreed to extend nuclear talks for a week past a June 30 deadline, the US and Iran issued warnings.
Marie Harf, senior adviser for strategic communications at the US State Department said Tuesday, "The P5+1 and Iran have decided to extend the measures under the Joint Plan of Action until July 7 to allow more time for negotiations to reach a long-term solution ... on the Iran nuclear issue," Reuters reported.
After both sides agreed on the extension, President Barack Obama said he is still willing to 鈥渨alk away鈥� from a nuclear deal聽with Iran if the deal does not block Tehran鈥檚 paths to building a nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also warned聽that If P5+1 鈥渂reaches the deal,鈥� the Iranian government is 鈥渇ully ready鈥� take "the old path, stronger than what they can imagine.鈥�
Despite the warnings, Reuters reports that US and Iranian officials sounded upbeat on Tuesday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who left Vienna for Tehran on Sunday聽for consultations with the country's leadership, arrived in Austria on Tuesday accompanied by the head of Iran鈥檚 Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi and the Iranian president鈥檚 brother Hossein Fereydoun.
"I am here to get a final deal, and I think we can," Zarif told reporters ahead of the meeting.
And afterwards, the聽US State Department聽described the meeting as 鈥減roductive.鈥�
Based on the interim agreement, known as the Joint Plan of Action, Iran agreed to take steps to restrict its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Now both sides are trying to agree on the details of the interim agreement, which has not been an easy task.
On Monday, a senior US administration official told reporters that "there are real and tough issues that remain which have to be resolved in order to get the comprehensive agreement, and we still do not know yet whether we will be able to get there."
The New York Times reports sticking points include:
The American officials 聽are hoping to reach an agreement by July 9 and send the deal to Congress for a 30-day review.聽The US president cannot suspend the sanctions on Iran without a Congressional review.聽