U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry scheduled an evening meeting Friday with his Iranian counterpart after announcing that he was pulling back from talks about Iran's nuclear program — a shift that suggested some hope of movement on the protracted negotiations. The official Iranian news agency IRNA said Kerry had made new proposals to the Iranians to bridge the differences blocking a deal. Officials from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are seeking to reduce the potency of Iran's nuclear program and slow its technical ability to produce atomic weapons. Iran denies seeking such arms, but is negotiating in pursuit of relief from international sanctions. An earlier U.S. statement said Kerry was heading for Paris and "we have not yet determined when he will return to Vienna," where the talks were being held. But he was still in Vienna as the day turned into evening, and a new U.S. statement said he was meeting again with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and former EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Zarif apparently also delayed — or cancelled — plans to leave for consultations in Tehran. Reports that he was departing Friday were replaced with the official IRNA news agency quoting an unidentified Iranian nuclear negotiator as saying Zarif was staying "and the talks will continue." The Iranian negotiator was quoted as saying that ideas proposed by the Americans were not yet ripe enough to warrant Zarif's flying back to Tehran. The U.S. statement said Kerry would be consulting with his European counterparts while in Paris. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond left the Vienna talks in the afternoon but Laurent Fabius, his French counterpart, was still in the Austrian capital. "We have a long way to go if we are to get to a deal before the deadline," Hammond told reporters. Expectations are growing that the Monday deadline for a full deal will be missed because of differences on how much Iran needs to reduce the size and scope of its key nuclear programs. Both the Iranians and the six world powers must soon decide whether to go beyond Monday or adjourn to a later date. They may also opt to end negotiations, but that is unlikely. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/116108.aspx
