Iranian nuclear talks go on even if 'clock strikes midnight'

VIENNA — Secretary of State John Kerry said an Iran nuclear deal would require more work to be able to withstand the test of time, as negotiators from Iran and six world powers blew through a July 10 congressional deadline after which they would have to submit a prospective deal for a 60-day Congressional review.

“We will not be rushed,” Kerry told journalists July 9 outside Vienna's Coburg Palace hotel, where Kerry had held intense negotiations with members of the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) as well as one on one talks with the Iranian foreign minister.

“All we are focused on is the quality of the agreement,” Kerry said. “It has to be able to withstand the test of time.”

Outside and perhaps inside the negotiating rooms, expectations that a deal might possibly be imminent had fluctuated throughout the last day, and a sense of some bitterness and disappointment was evident after the delay was announced. Furthermore, Iranian officials alleged that the U.S. negotiating team had withdrawn its own proposal the day before (July 8), seemingly after consultations with the White House, Iranian officials and sources close to the talks told Al-Monitor on July 9.

“We have seen certain changes in positions, particularly since last night,” a senior Iranian negotiator, speaking not for attribution, told journalists July 9.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/iran--nuclear-deal-to-face-longer-congress--review.html#ixzz3fVuG9ciC