LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The latest round of talks over Iran’s nuclear future wrapped up Friday, and negotiators plan to resume discussions next week in a last-ditch effort to forge an agreement by a March 31 deadline.
The negotiators had been considering staying through Saturday. That would have included meetings with the foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany. But those tentative plans were upended by the death on Friday of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s 90-year-old mother.
Later Friday, the Iranian team will head to Tehran to attend her funeral, as well as celebrate the opening days of the Persian new year.
Rouhani’s brother is a member of the negotiating team, and he left Lausanne for Tehran early Friday. The rest of the Iranian team is expected to leave later in the day.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry plans to return to Washington on Saturday, stopping on the way to consult with the European allies. He said the nuclear talks would resume Wednesday.
“We’ve had a series of intensive discussions with Iran this week, and given where we are in the negotiations, it’s an important time for high-level consultations with our partners in these talks,” said Marie Harf, the State Department’s deputy spokesperson.
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Kerry also spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of China and Russia, Harf said. That completes the group of five negotiating partners joining the United States in talks over a possible deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing international sanctions.
Over five days of talks, negotiators have so far failed to reach an agreement. They have said they want a general framework by the self-imposed March 31 deadline, but many fundamental issues remain unresolved.
The West and its allies fear Iran’s uranium enrichment program could eventually produce material for a nuclear weapon. Iran insists it does not seek atomic arms, and seeks reactors for energy and medical applications.
Diplomats familiar with the negotiations say that they still have not settled on ways to assure that Iran’s nuclear program is used solely for peaceful purposes. For example, they haven’t even agreed on how many centrifuges Iran will be allowed to operate to enrich uranium. Also, it’s unclear whether Iran can use only centrifuges with outdated technology from the 1970s, or more efficient centrifuges developed by Iran technicians but not yet in operation.
They also have not agreed on a number of non-proliferation measures that are the basis for most of the United Nations sanctions.
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With those issues still unsettled, the United States and its negotiating partners have been reluctant to agree on the pace at which sanctions might be eased. Iran continues to demand an immediate lifting of sanctions, said a U.S. official, while the other nations are insisting on a gradual pace linked to Iran’s willingness to open up its facilities to international inspections and comply with other elements of an agreement.
This round of talks ended on the eve of the Persian new year, which offered a moment of extra outreach on both sides.
The new year, known as Nowruz, was on everyone’s mind at the top of Friday’s first meeting.
Just outside the negotiating room was a table laden with sweets, stuffed animals and a pot holding grass, one of the traditional seven items used to mark the holiday.
At the top of the meeting, Kerry offered his condolences for the death of Rouhani’s mother, and extended new year’s greetings on behalf of the United States to the Iranian people.
“We want to wish the people of Iran . . . a Nowruz Mubarak,” Kerry said, using the Farsi greeting. “We hope this is a year that can bring us prosperity and peace.”
“Nowruz is the beginning of spring, and in Farsi it means “new day,’” Zarif responded. “I hope this new day will be a new day for the entire world — a new era of greater understanding and peace.”
President Obama, in his annual videotaped Nowruz message, urged the Iranian people and their leaders to seize the “historic opportunity” offered by the nuclear talks.”
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If Iran’s leaders do not agree to a reasonable deal, Obama said, the country will remain isolated and sanctions will further squeeze its economy, which has suffered a double blow from falling oil prices.
But if a deal can be forged, he said, Iranians will enter a world of more job opportunities, travel abroad and cultural exchanges.
“In other words, a nuclear deal now can help open the door to a brighter future for you — the Iranian people, who, as heirs to a great civilization, have so much to give to the world,” he said.
“This is what’s at stake today. And this moment may not come again soon. I believe that our nations have an historic opportunity to resolve this issue peacefully — an opportunity we should not miss. As the poet Hafez wrote, “It is early spring. Try to be joyful in your heart. For many a flower will bloom while you will be in clay.”
Kerry also issued a statement tying the nuclear talks to the hope symbolized by the Persian new year.
“As I noted in my Nowruz greeting last year, the United States and Iran have endured many harsh winters,” he said in a message he also addressed to the Iranian people. “But now, with the coming of spring, we can all embrace this opportunity to move toward a better future.
“It is my sincere hope that if Iran’s leaders make the right choices – the necessary choices – in the ongoing nuclear talks, that this new year and this new spring will mark a better future both for the Iranian people and for the world.”
The Iranians,, however, say the onus for the tough political decisions falls on Washington and its allies.
Zarif tweeted a message in response to Obama’s Nowruz greeting, saying “Iranians have already their choice: Engage with dignity. It’s high time for the US and its allies to choose: pressure or agreement.”
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Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department.
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