6 send ministers to close Iran talks

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Iranian and Western diplomats gave dueling accounts of what is needed to reach a nuclear accord in the remaining 48 hours before their deadline, with each side saying the other must make tough choices.

Foreign ministers from six world powers and Iran will meet this morning in Lausanne. It's the first such session since talks were extended in November and follows five days of negotiations in the Swiss town. Diplomats remain divided over the pace of easing sanctions on the Islamic Republic and the limits to be imposed on its nuclear program.

The "other side must make serious decisions," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said late Sunday in the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel. At the same moment, Philip Hammond, the U.K. foreign minister, was telling another group outside the hotel entrance that "Iran has to take a deep breath and make tough decisions."

A framework accord by the end of March would be a major step toward ending Iran's economic isolation, though another three months are envisaged to reach a detailed final agreement. Failure would be a blow to President Barack Obama, who has backed the talks despite domestic opposition, and increase the risk of military action by the U.S. or Israel to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

A new wrinkle emerged late Sunday as Araghchi contradicted earlier reports that Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, was prepared to ship its enriched uranium stockpile to a third country.

"We don't have the intention to ship our material abroad, but there are other solutions to create trust," Araghchi said. "We are toward the end of the negotiations, the negotiations are very tough right now, and the percentage chance of a deal changes after every meeting."

A day earlier, some diplomats had put the chance of reaching a deal at more than 50 percent. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Sunday that there had been "both progress and backsliding in the last few hours."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived late Sunday to join the talks and met with Secretary of State John Kerry, who has canceled a engagement today in Boston. Their French and German counterparts, Laurent Fabius and Steinmeier, also cleared their schedules to remain at the negotiations, European officials said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has demanded the immediate end of sanctions, which have slashed oil output in the country with the world's fourth-biggest reserves. Western powers have proposed lifting United Nations sanctions in phases over four to six years, according to two people involved in the talks who asked not to be identified. Some sanctions may remain in place for as long as a decade, they said.

Whatever the outcome this week, Obama faces an uphill battle selling the deal in Congress or buying more time to continue talks. Republicans and many Democrats in Congress agree with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's argument that the proposed deal is dangerous.

On Sunday, Netanyahu renewed strong criticism of what he brands a bad deal. He is at the forefront of accusations that Iran helped the recent Shiite rebel advance in Yemen, and Netanyahu linked Iran's alleged grab by proxy for influence in the Middle East with what he sees as victory by Tehran at the negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

"The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis is very dangerous for humanity and must be stopped," he said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, heading a delegation of American senators visiting Israel, said the lawmakers supported legislation to require Congress to approve any agreement on Iran's nuclear program or to increase penalties against Iran if no deal is reached.

The stakes are also high for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, elected to fix an economy squeezed by sanctions. Rouhani said the removal of penalties must be "a fundamental part of this agreement" and that it was "the other side's turn to take the final steps," the Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir expressed hope that a deal would be reached that would ensure regional stability.

"I believe that the negotiations with regards to a nuclear program in Iran are something that the whole world wants to succeed," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. "We're waiting to see the results of the negotiations before we assess the deal."

Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia wants a deal that denies Iran the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Information for this article was contributed by Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Jonathan Tirone, Kambiz Foroohar, Grant Smith, Anthony DiPaola, Golnar Motevalli, Henry Meyer, Ladane Nasseri and Gregory Viscusi of Bloomberg News; by George Jahn, Matthew Lee and Aron Heller of The Associated Press; and by W.J. Hennigan of Tribune News Service.

A Section on 03/30/2015

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