Iran and the United States have made "genuine progress" on a nuclear deal but there are several difficult issues to resolve and Washington is ready to walk away from the talks if need be, US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday.
"We have in fact made genuine progress but ... we are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues," Kerry told reporters. "If we don't have a deal and there is absolute intransigence and unwillingness to move on the things that are important [for] us, President Obama has always said we're prepared to walk away."
Iran, the United States and five other major powers are laboring to reach an agreement by Tuesday to restrain the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Below is a chronology of Iran’s nuclear program and diplomatic efforts to constrain it.
2009
US President Barack Obama takes office and, in his first week in the White House, tells Iran’s leaders he would extend a hand if they would “unclench their fist” and persuade the West they were not trying to build a nuclear bomb.
2009
Britain, France and the United States announce that Iran is building a secret uranium-enrichment site at Fordow, near the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom. Iran says it disclosed the site to the UN nuclear watchdog earlier in the week.
2009-2012
Negotiations between major powers and Iran largely stall.
2010
UN Security Council adopts resolution 1929, which creates a basis for crippling US and European Union sanctions in subsequent years.
2012
US law goes into effect giving Obama the power to sanction foreign banks, including the central banks of US allies, if they fail to significantly reduce their imports of Iranian oil. The result is a sharp downturn in the Iranian economy.
2012
US and Iranian officials begin secret talks, which intensify in 2013, on the nuclear issue.
2013
Pragmatist Hassan Rouhani is elected Iran’s president on platform of improving Iran’s relations with the world and the sorry state of its economy, something that can only be achieved by easing sanctions.
2013
Washington and Tehran intensify their nuclear talks, with US officials using US military aircraft, hotel side entrances and service elevators to keep their role under wraps.
2013
On November 23, with the groundwork laid by the secret US-Iran talks, Iran and the six major powers reach an interim pact called the Joint Plan of Action under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear work in exchange for limited sanctions relief.
The aim was to implement a comprehensive agreement within a year, but the deadline was extended thrice.
2015
On April 2, Iran and the major powers, Britain, China, France, Germany Russia and the US reach the framework for a Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action or final agreement.
Under the framework, as described by the United States, Iran committed to reduce the number of centrifuges it operates by about two-thirds and to other long-term limitations on its nuclear activities.
On June 30, both sides agree to give themselves until July 7 to reach a final deal.
