Tehran blames West for talks breakdown

DUBAI: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back at US Secretary of State John Kerry late on Tuesday and blamed divisions between Western powers for the failure of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva last week.
Zarif said that blaming Iran only served to undermine confidence in the negotiations which are set for another round on Nov. 20.
On Monday, Kerry said the major powers were “unified on Saturday when we presented a proposal to the Iranians, and the French signed off on it, we signed off on it, and everybody agreed it was a fair proposal. There was unity, but Iran couldn’t take it at that particular moment, they weren’t able to accept that particular thing.”
Zarif denied the Iranian side was to blame. “Mr. Secretary, was it Iran that gutted over half of US draft Thursday night? and publicly commented against it Friday morning?” Zarif asked on Twitter. “No amount of spinning can change what happened within 5+1 in Geneva from 6 p.m. Thursday to 5: 45 p.m. Saturday. But it can further erode confidence,” he tweeted. “We are committed to constructive engagement. Interaction on equal footing key to achieve shared objectives.”
Meanwhile, the head of the UN atomic watchdog said Tuesday he still wants Iran to answer allegations of past nuclear weapons research.
“The Iran nuclear issue is very complicated. We cannot expect that everything will come overnight, that is why we have taken a step-by-step approach,” International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano said. “All other issues that are not contained in the annex (to Monday’s agreement) will be addressed in the subsequent steps,” he said.