Top US diplomat John Kerry arrived in Paris today to boost European support for a deal with Iran as France voiced concerns over whether it would prove tough enough to stop Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Flying in from London on the last stop of a week-long trip, Kerry was to brief his French, German and British counterparts on the negotiations.
The US secretary of state spent three days in Switzerland earlier this week huddled with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the latest round of intense negotiations seeking to hammer out a deal as a March 31 deadline looms.
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who will meet first with Kerry for bilateral talks today, remains sceptical.
"There has been progress but as regards the numbers, controls and the length of the agreement, the situation is still not sufficient, so there is more work to be done," Fabius said yesterday.
Fabius gave no figures but key issues in the talks which began in late 2013 include the level of uranium enrichment that Iran should be allowed, the degree of international oversight of its programme and how long an accord should last.
"The deadline is March 31 but in the event it could be later, although everyone wants to make progress by the end of the month," Fabius said.
Fears have been raised both in Europe and Israel that the deal could leave much of Iran's uranium enrichment capability in place -- in particular that Tehran would still have thousands of centrifuges which spin uranium gas into high-grade fissile material capable of fuelling a nuclear weapon.
Iran has long denied seeking to arm itself with an atomic bomb, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.
Kerry has acknowledged that he is uncertain whether a deal can be reached, warning that time is running out amid domestic pressures both in the US and Iran.
But Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who met this week with the US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, insisted "we have overcome the stalemate over technical issues.
