WarSclerotic

Iranian president Hasan Rouhani said on Sunday that the Islamic republic’s “rights to enrichment” of uranium were “red lines” that would not be crossed and that Iran had acted rationally and tactfully during the latest round of nuclear negotiations, Iranian media reported.

“We have said to the negotiating sides that we will not answer to any threat, sanction, humiliation or discrimination. The Islamic Republic has not and will not bow its head to threats from any authority,” he said during a speech at the National Assembly, carried by the Iranian Students’ News Agency. “For us there are red lines that cannot be crossed. National interests are our red lines that include our rights under the framework of international regulations and [uranium] enrichment in Iran.”

Rouhani’s statement followed failed marathon talks between Iran and six world powers in Geneva over the weekend. While the negotiations were unable to clinch a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, sources privy to the talks said the differences between the parties have narrowed. The negotiations are set to resume in 10 days in a fresh bid to end the years-long standoff.

But clear divisions emerged among the U.S. and European allies on the final day of the talks as France hinted that the proposal under discussion did not sufficiently neutralize the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Iran is hoping for a deal that would ease the international sanctions that have frozen its assets around the world and prevented it from selling its oil.

It is ultimately the Americans and Iranians, who have not had formal diplomatic ties for more than three decades, who have the power to make or break an agreement; but on Saturday the attention suddenly turned to the French after Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio that Paris could not accept a “fool’s game” — in other words, a weak deal with Iran.

“From the start, France wanted an agreement to the important question of Iran’s nuclear program,” Fabius told reporters after the meeting, which ran into the early hours of Sunday.

“The Geneva meeting allowed us to advance but we were not able to conclude because there are still some questions to be addressed,” Fabius said.

Fabius’ pointed remarks rankled others in the Western camp. One diplomat close to the negotiations said the French were trying to upstage the other powers and were causing unnecessary trouble for participants in the talks, which are aimed at securing a deal with Iran that has eluded the West for a decade.

“The Americans, the EU and the Iranians have been working intensively together for months on this proposal and this is nothing more than an attempt by Fabius to insert himself into relevance late in the negotiations,” the diplomat told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry played down suggestions of a rift, saying, “I think tonight there is a unity in our position and a unity in the purpose as we leave here.”

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said senior political officials from Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany would meet again on November 20 to work on a deal.

Kerry told reporters that an agreement could be within reach: “There is no question in my mind that we are closer now as we leave Geneva than we were when we came, and that with good work and good faith over the course of the next weeks, we can, in fact, secure our goal,” he said.

“We came to Geneva to narrow the differences and I can tell you without any exaggeration we … narrowed the differences and clarified those that remain,” he said.

But he warned Tehran that Washington’s desire for a diplomatic solution to the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear program was not infinite, saying the window for diplomacy “does not stay open indefinitely.”

Ministers from Iran and the major powers held a series of meetings late on Saturday in a final push for an outline of a deal that would freeze parts of Iran’s atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief. In the end, however, they chose to adjourn for 10 days.

Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said they hoped an agreement would be signed later this month.

“We have done some intense negotiations and discussions and our objective is to reach a conclusion and that’s what we will come back to try and do,” Ashton told reporters.

Zarif said: “We had a very good three days, very productive three days, and it is something we can build on.”

The latest round of talks began on Thursday, and Kerry unexpectedly arrived on Friday to help bridge differences and secure an agreement. From the time he arrived in Geneva, Kerry played down expectations of a deal.

Fabius, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and their counterparts from Russia and Germany, Sergey Lavrov and Guido Westerwelle, also attended, along with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Baodong, demonstrating the six-nation group’s commitment to reaching an agreement.

Zarif, asked about the role Fabius played in the talks, did not criticize the French minister, saying disagreements at this stage of the negotiations were to be expected.

“It was natural that when we start dealing with the details there will be differences of views and we expect it,” he said. “I am not disappointed at all because the meeting we just had … was a good meeting. I think we are all on the same wavelength and that is important and that gives us the impetus to move forward when we meet again next time.”

The main sticking points in the talks include calls for a shutdown of an Iranian reactor that could eventually help to produce weapons-grade plutonium, the fate of Iran’s stockpile of higher-enriched uranium and the nature and sequencing of relief from economic sanctions sought by Tehran.

The powers remain concerned that Iran is continuing to amass enriched uranium not for future nuclear power stations, as Tehran says, but as potential fuel for nuclear warheads.

Iran and the six powers have been discussing a partial nuclear suspension deal lasting about six months. During that time, Iran and the six powers would negotiate a permanent agreement aimed at removing all concerns that Tehran is amassing the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

One concession under consideration is the disbursement to Iran, in installments, of about $50 billion of Iranian funds blocked in foreign accounts for years.

Another step could be temporarily relaxing restrictions on precious metals trade and Washington suspending pressure on countries not to buy Iranian oil.

Negotiators have limited political room to maneuver as there is hard-line resistance to any rapprochement both in Tehran — especially among its elite Revolutionary Guards and conservative Shiite clerics — and in the U.S. Congress.

Kerry appeared to respond to his critics in the U.S. legislature by saying, “This is an issue of such consequence that it really needs to rise or fall on the merits, not on politics.”

On Saturday, Rouhani urged the West “not to waste this one-of-a-kind opportunity.” Iran, he said, “wants the world to know that our nuclear program is used only for civilian purposes.”