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Kerry, ministers to join Iran nuclear talks to ‘break the logjam’

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers from the six powers negotiating with the Iranian regime on its nuclear programme will travel to Vienna this weekend to help break the logjam in the talks, a senior Western official said on Thursday.

“I can tell you that Kerry will be in Vienna this weekend, probably on Saturday,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. He added that Kerry had several bilateral meetings scheduled with fellow ministers on Sunday.

It was not clear how long Kerry and the other ministers planned to stay in Vienna. Nor was it clear how many other ministers would join Kerry.

The Western official told Reuters it was unlikely the ministers were heading to Vienna to sign an agreement between Iran and the six powers, given the wide gap between the parties on the acceptable scope of Tehran’s future enrichment programme.

British Foreign Minister William Hague told Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung on Wednesday that Significant differences remain between the six world powers and the Iranian regime in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme,.

Michael Mann, the spokesperson for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said on Wednesday:

We are working very hard, we are working on drafting the text. But there are still obvious, serious gaps to close and we are determined to work hard to try and close those gaps.”

The Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, said his regime would need to significantly increase its uranium enrichment capacity, highlighting the gap in positions between the regime and world powers.