US, UK voice support for Iran talks

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke on Tuesday about their expectations for the next round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The discussion was part of a phone conversation about several security issues in the Middle East, the White House said.

“On Iran, the president and prime minister reiterated their support for the P5+1’s unified proposal and discussed their expectations for the next round of talks,” the White House said, referring to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany that are negotiating with Tehran.

Details of the proposal has not yet revealed as the ongoing negotiations are to remain “confidential”.

The last round of talks between Iran and the six countries ended early on Sunday in Geneva without reaching a deal. But negotiators from both sides said many differences have been narrowed down.

After the talks ended, Iranian Foreign Minister – and top nuclear negotiator – Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton issued a joint statement saying: “A lot of concrete progress has been achieved but some differences remain”.

The next round of talks is set to be held in Geneva again on Nov. 20.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said all member states of the P5+1 were “unified” on a nuclear deal with Iran, and that it was the Iranian side that refused to accept it.

Iran immediately reacted to the claim. Zarif said, “No amount of spinning can change what happened within 5+1 in Geneva… But it can further erode confidence”.

A diplomatic source in Russia, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, also rejected Kerry’s remarks. He said Tuesday that “such interpretation utterly simplifies and even distorts the essence of what has happened in Geneva.” The Russian diplomat stressed that it was not the “Iranians’ fault” that no deal was made.

During the last day of talks in Geneva, some reports suggested that it was actually French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who opposed the initial draft of the P5+1 proposal, not Iran or the US.

Fabius had said Israel’s “concerns” must be taken into consideration in the course of the talks. His remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 8 “utterly” denounced a possible agreement in the course of the negotiations as “very, very bad”.

Obama and Cameron also discussed efforts to strike an agreement between the US and Afghanistan over whether a small US force will remain after the 2014 withdrawal deadline, Reuters reported, citing the White House.

The US has had tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion of the Asian country.

Progress toward eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons was also discussed. The two leaders affirmed their support for a proposed international peace conference to end Syria’s three-year political crisis.

The Syrian government has been fighting foreign-backed militant groups since 2010.