Iran offered temporary relief from some sanctions if it freezes uranium enrichment...

By Joby Warrick Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program entered a critical stage Thursday as diplomats weighed a possible interim deal in which Tehran would temporarily freeze its uranium enrichment in return for modest relief on economic sanctions. 

Talks between Iran and six world powers resumed in Geneva amid indications that an agreement could be possible on what U.S. officials have described as a “first step” toward a more comprehensive pact restricting Tehran’s future ability to seek atomic weapons.

Although Iran has not yet responded publicly to the freeze proposal, its chief negotiator said the sides were “making progress,” while acknowledging that the discussions were “tough.”
“I’m hopeful that we can move forward,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after the two-day meeting got underway in Geneva. A European Union official present at the session said the talks were “entering a serious phase.”
A proposal formally presented to Iran on Thursday would require the country to suspend its production of enriched uranium and agree to additional curbs, concessions that would be rewarded with a modest, temporary easing of financial sanctions, according to a senior U.S. official knowledgeable about the plan.
The proposed freeze, if accepted, would be the first stage in a multiple-step process that could culminate in an agreement early next year on permanent limits to Iran’s ability to produce the components of a nuclear bomb, the official said.
“What we’re looking for now is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward for the first time in decades, and that potentially rolls part of it back,” said the U.S. official in a briefing to journalists .
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said the United States and its allies were looking to “put time on the clock” by ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program does not advance while the negotiations are going on.
The White House is under pressure to show substantial progress during this round of talks, as skeptics in Congress have threatened to impose harsh new financial sanctions on Iran even as the negotiations are underway. Administration officials met with key lawmakers last week, urging them to delay any decisions on new sanctions until the first of the year.
The U.S. official in Geneva said an Iranian agreement to freeze its nuclear program would result in “limited, targeted and reversible” relief on some economic sanctions, for a period of perhaps six months. The easing of sanctions would be reversed if Iran failed to honor its commitments, or if there was no progress in the effort to achieve a broader nuclear agreement. The toughest sanctions affecting Iran’s banking sector and oil exports would not be lifted until the final stage of the process, Western officials said........http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-offered-temporary-relief-from-some-sanctions-if-it-freezes-uranium-production/2013/11/07/258b1e32-47aa-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html
7/11/13
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