Emerging from a last-ditch bargaining session that began Saturday and stretched past midnight, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said they had failed to overcome differences. They insisted they had made progress, however, and pledged to return to the table in 10 days to try again, albeit at a lower level. ...NYT
In the end, had the talks succeeded, the deal would likely have been shot down, the Times reports, by "Republicans and some Democrats in Congress," not to forget the right in Israel. Get too close to peace and justice and the guardians of chaos pull out all their weapons.
The Iranian side was, thank goodness, optimistic.
Although a deal had appeared nearly certain a few hours earlier, the talks stalled over technical issues, including details of nuclear concessions required of Iran, and the incentives the Islamic Republic would receive in return. Among the obstacles were disagreements between France and other members of the six-nation bloc known as the P5-plus-1.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javid Zarif, gave an upbeat assessment as the talks broke up early Sunday.
“What I was looking for was the political determination, willingness and good faith and readiness in order to end this,” said Zarif, appearing at the podium with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. “I think we’re all on the same wavelength, and that’s important. And that gives us the impetus to go forward when we meet again next time.
“We’ve done a lot of work. Hopefully we can do a bit more,” he said. ...WaPo
