Kerry: Iran deal can go 'either way'

Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday sought to calm expectations of an imminent nuclear deal with Iran, saying the negotiations “could go either way” and warning that the U.S. is willing to abandon the talks if it encounters “absolute intransigence.”

Kerry made the comments in Vienna shortly after a series of meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. The men, along with negotiating representatives from five other nations, are struggling to meet a self-imposed Tuesday deadline to reach an agreement designed to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.


“We are not there yet. I emphasize that,” Kerry told reporters.

The secretary added that although significant progress had been made, some difficult choices remain, and that the United States would not agree to anything other than a good deal. “We’re not going to shave anywhere at the margins in order just to get an agreement,” he said.

Kerry’s statements followed the release Friday of a YouTube video by Zarif, who said the two sides were closer than ever to a deal. But, alluding to the U.S. and its partners, Zarif said they must choose between “agreement or coercion.”

Kerry didn’t point fingers at any one party and at one point noted, “Our Iranian counterparts have been working hard.” But his reference to America’s willingness to walk away if there’s “absolute intransigence, if there’s an unwillingness to move on the things that are important,” also suggested he was putting the onus on the Iranians to step up in the final days of talks.

The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have been trying to bridge differences with Iran on a range of issues, including the pace of sanctions relief for Iran and how much access U.N. inspectors will have to Iranian sites suspected of engaging in nuclear-related work.

Reports have varied on how close the two sides are to breakthroughs; some sources say lower-level negotiators have come up with a process designed to offer sanctions relief to Iran that runs simultaneous to Iran taking steps to shut down elements of its nuclear program, but those sources also stress nothing is final.

Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, sounded a cautiously optimistic note on Saturday, saying the U.N. nuclear watchdog had made progress in efforts to get Iranian cooperation in its investigation of the country’s suspected research of nuclear weapons.

A preliminary nuclear deal was reached in April. The original deadline for a comprehensive, final agreement was June 30, but the negotiators decided to extend that until Tuesday. Kerry said that is still the time frame they are aiming for.

Foreign ministers from several of the other participating nations were due to arrive in Vienna on Sunday for the final stretch of talks.

Although there’s nothing to prevent a further extension of the talks, the Obama administration would prefer to achieve a deal by Thursday so that Congress will have only 30 calendar days to review the accord. If an agreement is delivered after that date, Congress will get 60 days to review it, giving opponents more time to mobilize.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a skeptic of the talks, appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday to urge Kerry not to rush headlong into a deal.

Kerry should “try to make sure that these last remaining red lines that haven’t been crossed — they’ve crossed so many — do not get crossed and, qualitatively, they don’t make it worse than where it already is,” said Corker (R-Tenn.), who spearheaded legislation that gives Congress power to review the accord.

Also weighing in Sunday was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reportedly compared the agreement emerging in Vienna to the accord that failed to stop North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu, who views Iran as an existential threat to Israel, has been a highly vocal critic of the negotiations and said the talks are producing a “breakdown, not a breakthrough,” according to media reports.

Eliza Collins contributed to this report.