Kerry, No Deal in Hand, Defends Negotiating Strategy on Iran

Secretary of State John Kerry defended his negotiating strategy with Iran on Sunday, asserting that the agreement he was seeking to freeze Tehran’s nuclear program would be in Israel’s interest.

“We are not blind, and I don’t think we are stupid,” Mr. Kerry said in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.”

“I think we have a pretty strong sense of how to measure whether or not we are acting in the interests of our country and of the globe,” he added, “and particularly of our allies like Israel and Gulf States and others in the region.”

Mr. Kerry cut short a trip to the Middle East last week to join foreign ministers from France, Britain, Germany and Russia to push for an accord that would constrain Iran’s nuclear program in return for possibly easing sanctions on the country. A senior Chinese diplomat also participated in the final discussions in Geneva.

But the negotiations ended early Sunday without an agreement, and differences emerged between France and other Western nations over the best way to impose effective limitations on Iran. Lower-level diplomats are scheduled to meet again in 10 days to resume the effort.

There is concern among supporters of the Obama administration’s approach that the delay in securing an accord will give critics in Congress and Israel more time to mobilize opposition to any potential agreement.

The initial agreement that the Obama administration is pursuing, which would last perhaps six months, would impose a number of measures intended to make it harder for Iran to develop the nuclear material rapidly for a nuclear weapon.

By freezing the program in this way, American officials say, diplomats would have more time to pursue a more comprehensive agreement. In return, the United States would ease some sanctions and would most likely provide Iran with access to billions of dollars in funds frozen in overseas bank accounts.

But the interim accord would not require Iran to stop producing low-enriched uranium or dismantle its nuclear infrastructure, which is the nub of the Israeli complaint.

In the television interview, which was taped after the talks ended early Sunday, Mr. Kerry sought to play down reports of differences among the United States and its negotiating partners.

“I’d say a number of nations — not just the French, but ourselves and others — wanted to make sure that we had the tough language necessary, the clarity in the language necessary, to be absolutely certain that we were doing the job and not granting more or doing something sloppily that could wind up with a mistake,” he said.

“This is a new overture,” Mr. Kerry added — referring to an initiative from President Hassan Rouhani of Iran to resolve the longstanding nuclear dispute — “and it has to be put to the test very, very carefully.”

The British foreign secretary, William Hague, asserted that Western representatives were united in the last hours of the meeting over the proposals left for Iran to consider during the break.

Mr. Hague told the BBC that “narrow gaps” remained with Iran but that much had gone right in Geneva. “On the question of will it happen in the next few weeks, there is a good chance of that,” he added. “A deal is on the table, and it can be done. But it is a formidably difficult negotiation. I can’t say exactly when it will conclude.”

Israel, however, has been adamant that the terms of the deal being negotiated were uniformly good for Iran — and bad for everyone else.

Mr. Kerry met last week with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who has described the interim agreement that the United States is seeking as a “grievous historic error.”

Mr. Netanyahu has said that the United States and its negotiating partners should not remove economic sanctions until Iran agrees to abandon its program to enrich uranium and to dismantle its nuclear infrastructure, which Israel fears is not part of a peaceful energy program as Tehran insists but is a cover for developing the capability to make nuclear weapons.

“I’m not sure that the prime minister, who I have great respect for, knows exactly what the amount or the terms are going to be, because we haven’t arrived at them all yet,” Mr. Kerry said in response to Mr. Netanyahu’s critique.

“And it is not a partial deal,” Mr. Kerry added. “It is a first step in an effort that will lock the program in where it is today — in fact, set it back — while one negotiates the full deal.”

“It seems to me that Israel is far safer if you make certain that Iran cannot continue the program,” Mr. Kerry added. “Now, every day that we don’t have it, they’re continuing it.”

Mr. Kerry defended the decision to ease some sanctions if Iran agreed to preliminary constraints, saying that the move would be needed to demonstrate American “good faith” and that it would not involve the removal of “core” banking or oil economic sanctions.

“If, as their act of good faith, they freeze their program and allow us absolutely unprecedented access to inspection,” Mr. Kerry said, “it seems to me you’ve got to do something that indicates your good faith.”