Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday that the first deal in a decade over its nuclear programme could have been reached if one negotiating member – a clear reference to France – had not blocked it, reports The Financial Times.
“There was a possibility to reach an agreement with the majority of 5+1 but there was a need to have the consent of all and as you have heard . . . one of the delegations had some problems,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a Facebook post referring to the six nations involved in the talks – the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Iran.
Three days of intense negotiations in Geneva, which went into early Sunday morning, failed to produce an interim agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme despite earlier optimistic predictions.
France appeared to be concerned that the proposal – which involved Tehran halting key parts of its nuclear programme in return for modest relief from tough international sanctions – did not apply the brakes hard enough on the country’s agenda.
Despite the setback, William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, said on Sunday that he remained optimistic a deal could be struck in the next round of negotiations due to start on November 20. He said that disagreements were “narrow” and that the talks have been “very detailed”.
Read more of this report from The Financial Times.