OBAMA BRIEFS NETANYAHU ON IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS
Washington, 5 Muharam 1435 / 9 November 2013 ( MINA ) – The US President Barack Obama has briefed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and six major world powers.
Obama called Netanyahu on Friday, according to a White House statement, which also reads, “The president provided the prime minister with an update on negotiations in Geneva and underscored his strong commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
“The president and prime minister agreed to continue to stay in touch on this issue,” the statement added, Press TV reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
The news comes amid Israel’s deep anger over the likelihood of an agreement between Iran and the six world powers in the course of the ongoing nuclear talks.
On Friday, Netanyahu “utterly” denounced a possible agreement in the course of the nuclear talks as “very, very bad.”
On Thursday, Josh Earnest, a deputy White House spokesman, rejected “any critique of the deal” as “premature.”
“There is no deal, but there is an opportunity here for a possible diplomatic solution, and that is exactly what we are pursuing,” he noted.
The negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain- plus Germany over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program began in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday. The US secretary of state and the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany joined the talks on Friday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, his US counterpart John Kerry and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton held trilateral talks also on Friday in the Swiss city.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi, who is also a member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, described the meeting as “productive.”
He added that the talks, which are aimed at hammering out a draft deal on Tehran’s nuclear case, are set to continue on Saturday.
Amid increasing optimism that a deal could be within reach, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Geneva to help in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Kerry flied to Geneva on Friday “in an effort to help narrow differences in negotiations” with Iran, two senior State Department officials said.
European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton invited Kerry to the talks, the officials said.
News of Kerry’s travel plans came hours after Iran’s foreign minister said that officials could reach an agreement by Friday evening.
“I believe it is possible to reach an understanding or an agreement before we close these negotiations (Friday) evening,” Iran’s foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator, Javad Zarif, though he would not detail what such an agreement could include, he told the state-run Iranian News Agency, “We expect to make a breakthrough.”
U.S. President Barack Obama also said Thursday night that a deal could be reached.
There is the “possibility of a phased agreement” with Iran on nuclear issues, Obama told. The first step, if agreed upon, would require Iran to halt advances in its nuclear program in return for “very modest relief” from economic sanctions, he said.
But the United States would still keep “core sanctions” in place, Obama said.
“So that if it turned out during the course of the six months when we’re trying to resolve some of these bigger issues that they’re backing out of the deal, they’re not following through on it, or they’re not willing to go forward and finish the job of giving us assurances that they’re not developing a nuclear weapon,” Obama told NBC, “we can crank that dial back up.”
The comments came after a day of meetings in Geneva between Iranian negotiators and technical teams from the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and non-nuclear-armed Germany — a group referred to as the P5+1 or EU3+3.
Uranium enrichment is the key issue on the table during the talks with Iran over the future of its controversial nuclear program.
“We are at a very sensitive stage of negotiations, and it is best if these negotiations are done at the negotiating table rather than on live television,” Zarif said. “But I can tell you that we are prepared to address some of the most immediate concerns that have been raised, and we expect reciprocally our concerns to be met by the P5+1.” (T/P04/P03)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/09/333764/obama-briefs-netanyahu-on-iran-ntalks/
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/07/world/meast/iran-nuclear-talks/
