US secretary of state John Kerry today denied that divisions existed between western states at last week’s negotiations with Iran, as recriminations continued over the failure to reach a nuclear deal at the meeting.
Speaking from the United Arab Emirates on the final day of his Middle East tour, Mr Kerry said Iran had not been prepared to accept the deal “at that particular moment”, adding that France had “signed off” on the agreement.
His comments appeared to be backed up by the EU, with sources in Brussels suggesting that French resistance was not the main reason for the breakdown in the talks.
Speaking after the three-day meeting, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been leading the negotiations with the Iranian foreign minister, welcomed France’s role in the discussions.
While not confirming whether France had backed the deal, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius signalled that an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme was within grasp. “We are not far from an agreement with the Iranians, but we are not there yet,” he told Europe 1 radio.
“I am hopeful we will reach a good deal. We want an accord that ensures regional and international stability.”
He insisted that France was not isolated.
Reports in the French press suggested that France was concerned that Washington and Tehran wanted to strike a deal too quickly, potentially bypassing the so-called “P5 + 1” structure of the six world powers involved in the talks: the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.
France’s concerns include Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor, which has the potential to create plutonium, and the fate of Iran’s stocks of uranium, which have already been enriched to a level of 20 per cent.
It also wanted to ensure that Iranians could use civil nuclear energy, but not move towards the atomic bomb, Mr Fabius said.
Iran-IAEA deal
Separately, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)today signed their first agreement in six years. The deal will grant inspectors greater access to Iran's disputed nuclear sites.
Under the new framework, inspectors will have greater access to the heavy-water reactor at Arak.
While the IAEA has visited Arak, inspectors want more information on the design of the project to ensure plutonium cannot be extracted for nuclear weapons.