Iran denies it scuttled nuclear talks

Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday denied US claims that the Islamic republic had scuttled nuclear talks in Geneva, pointing instead to France as the culprit.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Abu Dhabi on Monday Iran had balked at the Geneva talks just as world powers were closing in on a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Zarif, on his Twitter account, alluded to comments by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who has been pilloried in the Iranian media after reports emerged that he scuppered a potential deal.

“Mister Secretary of State, is it Iran which changed half the text of the Americans on Thursday and made contrary statements on Friday morning?” Zarif asked. “No amount of spinning can change what happened within 5+1 in Geneva from 6PM Thursday to 545 PM Saturday. But it can further erode confidence”.

Late Monday, Zarif played down Kerry’s remarks.

“If we want to be fair, sometimes these comments are made to address certain concerns, or those of the hosting country,” the foreign minister said.

Fabius joined the talks on Friday and immediately issued a statement saying that while there had been progress in the talks, “nothing has been agreed yet.”

The following day he was even less upbeat.

“There is an initial draft that we do not accept,” Fabius told France Inter radio Saturday morning.

“There are some points on which we are not satisfied,” he added, citing the “extremely prolific” Arak nuclear reactor and the question of uranium enrichment.

The talks, which saw the foreign ministers of the P5+1 group-Britain, France, the US, Russia and China plus Germany-rush to Geneva in hopes of finally concluding a deal with Iran, ended inconclusively early on Sunday.

They will resume in Geneva on November 20.

Diplomats insist a deal is close despite the lack of breakthrough at the weekend.