Six powers, Iran launch crunch phase of nuclear diplomacy

By Louis Charbonneau and Justyna Pawlak

VIENNA (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran launched a decisive phase of diplomacy on Wednesday to draft a lasting accord that would curb Tehran's contested nuclear activity in exchange for a phased end to sanctions that have hobbled the Iranian economy.

After three months of discussing expectations rather than negotiating possible compromises, the sides are to set about devising a package meant to end years of antagonism and curtail the risk of a wider Middle East war with global repercussions.

Washington's decades-long estrangement from Iran could ease, improving international stability, if a deal were done but U.S. and other Western officials warned against unwarranted optimism given persisting, critical differences between the sides.

"We've spent the last couple of rounds putting all of the issues on the table, seeing where there may be points of agreement, where there may be gaps. There are some very significant gaps," a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.

"It's not that there aren't solutions to those gaps; there are. But getting to them is another matter."

To get a deal, the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany will want Iran to agree to dramatically cut back its uranium enrichment program to remove any risk that it could lead to the making of atomic bombs, while Iran will want them to eliminate sanctions against its oil-based economy.

Diplomats from both sides have said they want to resolve all sticking points about issues such as Iran's capacity to enrich uranium and the future of its nuclear facilities, as well as the timeline of sanctions relief, by a July 20 deadline.

After that, an interim deal they struck last November expires and its extension would probably complicate talks.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, addresses his Gulf counterparts in the Conference Palace, Jeddah …

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who coordinates diplomacy with Iran on behalf of the six, said negotiators held a "useful initial discussion" on Wednesday morning and would hold coordination meetings later in the day.

"We are now hoping to move to a new phase ... in which we will start pulling together what the outline of an agreement could be. All sides are highly committed," Michael Mann said.

ISRAELI THREAT TO HIT IRAN

Looming in the background of the talks have been threats by Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear weaponry but which sees Iran as a existential threat, to attack Iranian nuclear installations if it deems diplomacy ultimately futile in containing Tehran's atomic abilities and potential.

U.S. President Barack Obama has not ruled the last-ditch option of military action either.

Broadly, the six powers want to ensure the Iranian program is curtailed enough so that it would take Iran a long time to assemble nuclear bomb components if it chose to do so, and would be detected with intrusive inspections before it was too late.

Iran denies accusations of having nuclear weapons aspirations, saying it wants only peaceful atomic energy.

Central to this issue will be the number of centrifuge machines, which potentially can enrich uranium to bomb-fuel quality, that Iran would be permitted to operate.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, addresses his Gulf counterparts in the Conference Palace, Jeddah …

Tehran has about 10,000 centrifuges running but the West will likely want that number trimmed to the low thousands, a demand that could be unacceptable to the Islamic Republic.

Iran's research and development of new nuclear technologies and the amount of stockpiled enriched uranium it may keep will also be crucial and likely difficult to negotiate. Refined uranium can be used as fuel in nuclear power plants or in weapons if purified to a high enough level.

"Halting research and development of uranium enrichment has never been up for negotiation, and we would not have accepted it either," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

"But a wide variety of issues have been discussed ... and on uranium enrichment too we have tried to reach consensus."

Diplomats say Iran, rather than deactivating centrifuges, wants to expand its enrichment program, saying it needs to do this to fuel a planned network of nuclear power plants.

Iran entered talks with the big powers after moderate President Hassan Rouhani was elected last June.

"OUT OF CONTROL"

Diplomats have signaled some progress may have been made during three rounds of expert-level talks since February on one of the thorniest issues - the future of Iran's planned Arak heavy-water reactor, which Western states worry could prove a source of plutonium for nuclear bomb fuel once operational.

But the U.S. official cautioned that some media reports about progress reached up until now were going too far.

"I've read a lot of the optimism you've written," the official told reporters. "It's gotten way out of control."

Other diplomats from the powers warned that progress, if any, in the coming talks will be slow. And any agreement may come only at the 11th hour. "It's very difficult to say how it will all work in practice now. We have no agenda but that's not different from any other meeting," said one.

"The figures will come at the end. They will be part of the big bargaining," he said, referring to decisions about issues such as the number of centrifuges to remain in Iran.

Much of the complexity of the final deal stems from the fact that its various elements are intertwined. A higher number of centrifuges left in Iran would mean the powers wanting Tehran to more substantially slacken the pace of enrichment, for example.

"All the parameters are interdependent," one diplomat said.

Politically, any deal could still be torpedoed by conservative hawks in the United States or Iran, and another interfering factor could be the approaching U.S. midterm congressional elections.

Divisions in Washington are closely linked to concerns in Israel that any deal might not go far enough. "We are not against diplomatic solutions. But on the one condition, that it is a serious and comprehensive solution. A solution that can be trusted," Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister in charge of nuclear affairs, told reporters in Brussels last week.

"Iran should be denied not just to produce the bomb but also to have the capability," he said.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi in Vienna; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Iran, six powers begin talks on final nuke deal

U.S. officials warn against unwarranted optimism given persisting differences between the sides.
July deadline

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A violent protest erupted Wednesday in the Turkish city of Soma, where at least 238 coal miners have died after a mine explosion.

Many in the crowd expressed anger at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. Rocks were being thrown and some people were shouting that Erdogan was a "Murderer!" and a "Thief!"

The protesters faced off against riot police, who had gas masks and water cannons, in front of the ruling NKP party headquarters.

Earlier in the day, women wailed uncontrollably, men knelt sobbing and others just stared in disbelief outside a coal mine in western Turkey as rescue workers removed a steady stream of bodies after an underground explosion and fire killed.

The fate of an estimated 120 miners remained unclear in one of Turkey's worst mining disasters.

Erdogan postponed a foreign trip and visited the mine in Soma, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Istanbul. The deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

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People mourn for their relatives after a mine explosion near Soma, Manisa province, Turkey, May 14, …

Erdogan said the tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and "no negligence will be ignored." He discussed rescue operations with authorities, walked near the entrance of the mine and also comforted two crying women. Earlier, Erdogan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma at the time of Tuesday's explosion and 363 of them had been rescued. Scores were injured, Yildiz told reporters in Soma, where he was overseeing operations by more than 400 rescuers.

The last worker rescued alive emerged from the mine around dawn, a government official said on condition of anonymity because she didn't have prior authorization to speak publicly to journalists about the issue. As of 3:30 p.m., it had been about 10 hours since anyone had been brought out alive.

"Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing," Yildiz said before Erdogan's visit.

Erdogan said there were an estimated 120 workers still inside the mine.

"Our hope is that, God willing, they will be brought out," he said. "That is what we are waiting for."

Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners stood outside the mine. The crowd shouted at officials, including when Yildiz passed by, and some wailed each time a body was brought up. A heavy police presence was in place around the mine.

The explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, officials said, which likely raised the casualty toll because there were more miners inside than usual.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Turkey's worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

More than 230 miners are confirmed dead and nearly 120 are missing after an explosion.
Protests turn violent

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POSSIBLE PEACE DEAL FOR UKRAINE

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian government reluctantly agreed to launch talks on decentralizing power Wednesday as part of a European-backed peace plan, but did not invite its main foes, the pro-Russia insurgents who have declared independence in the east.

That deliberate oversight left it unclear what the negotiations might accomplish.

Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was to chair the first in a series of round tables with national lawmakers, government figures and regional officials as part of a peace plan drafted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The trans-Atlantic security and rights group also includes Russia and the United States.

Even as Yatsenyuk launched the talks he was dismissive of them, thanking the OSCE for its efforts but saying Ukraine has its own plan to end the crisis. He gave no details of that plan.

The road map aims to halt fighting between government forces and pro-Russia separatists who have taken over government buildings in the east and de-escalate tensions ahead of Ukraine's May 25 presidential vote. It lets the Ukrainian government decide specifics of the talks.

Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said the talks would involve "regional elites" —expected to include former Ukrainian presidents, officials and lawmakers. But he said the government would not stop its offensive to retake eastern cities now under the control of the separatists who declared independence on Monday.

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Acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov (C) and Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk (L) take par …

"The government will act against those who are terrorizing the region with arms in hand in line with the law, by continuing an anti-terrorist operation against them," Turchynov said.

Insurgents in the east shrugged off the round table as meaningless.

"We haven't received any offers to join a round table and dialogue," Denis Pushilin, an insurgent leader in Donetsk. "If the authorities in Kiev want a dialogue, they must come here. If we go to Kiev, they will arrest us."

Even so, European officials applauded the start of the talks. The EU's enlargement commissioner, Stefan Fule, welcomed the launch of the round table on his Twitter account, voicing hope the next meeting would take place in the east.

Sawsan Chebli, a spokeswoman for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said Ukraine's acceptance of the round-table format was a step in the right direction, whether the pro-Russia separatists were invited or not.

German FM In Ukraine To Help Broker DialoguePlay Video

"We are of the opinion that this national dialogue will help to de-escalate the situation," she said.

The OSCE itself would not comment Wednesday on the invitee list.

Russia has strongly backed the OSCE road map. The United States, while saying it's worth a try, views its prospects for success with skepticism.

Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine, where insurgents have seized administrative buildings, fought government forces and declared independence for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions after a hastily called vote last weekend that Ukraine and the Western powers have called a sham.

Dozens have died in the scattershot fighting across the east. On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said six soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a rebel ambushed near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region — the deadliest attack the Ukrainian military has seen since the offensive began last month.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (R) take part in a meeting w …

Defense Ministry spokesman Bohdan Senyk said about 30 gunmen positioned themselves on both sides of the road and used rocket-propelled grenades to knock out the military vehicles in a battle that raged for an hour.

On Wednesday morning, AP journalists saw the charred carcasses of a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier and a truck at the clash site.

Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval claimed that the insurgents were being aided by Russian servicemen.

"Russia has waged an undeclared new-generation war in Ukraine. The neighboring country has unleashed a war using units of terrorists and saboteurs," he said.

He added that some of the men who had besieged a Ukrainian military base in the east openly introduced themselves as officers of Russia's 45th Airborne Regiment.

Separatists kill seven Ukrainian soldiers -- defen …Play Video

Russia has vehemently denied involvement.

On Wednesday morning, about 15 men armed with automatic weapons arrived at a military base in the city of Donetsk and demanded that the soldiers pledge allegiance to the self-proclaimed rebel Donetsk People's Republic, said Viktoria Kushnir, a spokeswoman of Ukraine's National Guard. The men blocked the gate of the base with a truck for half an hour, but after a lengthy conversation, servicemen persuaded the armed men to go, Kushnir said.

The OSCE plan calls on all sides to refrain from violence, an amnesty for those involved in the unrest, and talks on decentralization and the status of the Russian language. It envisages a quick launch of high-level round tables across the country, bringing together lawmakers and representatives of the central government and the regions.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis lamented that the OSCE plan does not specifically oblige Russia to do anything.

In Moscow, Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the lower house of Russian parliament, said Wednesday that the Ukrainian authorities' refusal to speak to their foes and the continuing military operation in the east will undermine the legitimacy of the May 25 presidential vote.

But in an important change, he added that the failure to hold it would be even worse.

"It's hard to imagine that this election could be fully legitimate," Naryshkin said on Rossiya 24 television. "But it's obvious that the failure to hold the election would lead to an even sadder situation, so it's necessary to choose the lesser evil."

Moscow had previously called for postponing Ukraine's presidential vote, saying it must be preceded by a constitutional reform that would turn Ukraine into a federation. It has recently taken a more conciliatory stance, reflecting an apparent desire to ease what has become the worst crisis in relations with the West since the Cold War.

The insurgents in Luhansk have already said they won't allow the presidential ballot to be held and Pushilin, the Donetsk rebel leader, said they will use unspecified "means and methods" to prevent the vote from happening.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is among those running for president, criticized the authorities for failing to engage their opponents and urged the government to move the round tables from Kiev to Donetsk, the main city in the rebellious east.

But that wouldn't be enough for many of the insurgents.

"The government in Kiev does not want to listen to the people of Donetsk," said Denis Patkovski, a member of pro-Russian militia in the eastern city of Slovyansk. "They just come here with their guns."

___

Karmanau reported from Donetsk, Ukraine. Srdjan Ndelejkovic and Alexander Zemlianichenko in Slovyansk, Ukraine; Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

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Ukraine agrees to European-backed peace talks

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will chair the discussions, but he hasn't invited a key group.
Dismissive of process

In the span of a few weeks, an energy firm little-known inside the United States added two members to its board of directors — scoring connections to Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden in the bargain.

On April 22, Cyprus-based Burisma announced that financier Devon Archer had joined its board. Archer, who shared a room in college with Kerry’s stepson, Christopher Heinz, served as national finance co-chair for the former senator’s 2004 presidential campaign.

Then, on Monday, the firm announced that Biden’s younger son, R. Hunter Biden, would join the board of directors.

Why would the company, which bills itself as Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, need such powerful friends in Washington?

The answer might be the company’s holdings in Ukraine. They include, according to the firm’s website, permits to explore in the Dnieper-Donets Basin in the country’s eastern regions, home to an armed pro-Russian separatist movement. They also include permits to explore in the Azov-Kuban Basin of the strategic Crimean peninsula, annexed earlier this year by Moscow.

It’s not clear what will happen to energy firms, like Burisma, that aim to explore and exploit potential deposits in those areas. Neither the Archer nor the Biden announcement explicitly mentions the unrest, and it’s not clear exactly when their discussions to join the board began. In an April 23 Q&A, the transcript of which appears on Burisma’s website, Archer said he had been approached “a few months ago” about the opportunity to consult for the oil company. The announcement of his directorship came less than a month after the disputed vote in Crimea to rejoin Russia.

The White House and the vice president’s office denied there was anything untoward about Biden’s appointment.

“Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family are obviously private citizens and where they work does not reflect an endorsement by the administration or by the Vice President or President,” said President Barack Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney. “But I would refer you to the Vice President’s office.”

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer,” the vice president’s press secretary, Kendra Barkoff, said in a statement. “The vice president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company. For any additional questions, I refer you to Hunter’s office.”

The person who answered the telephone at Biden’s office in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday cheerfully declared that Biden was traveling, that his return date was unknown, and that his assistant was also out of pocket.

An email to Burisma’s public relations department did not elicit a reply.

But Archer coyly acknowledged the potential benefits of having him on the board in the April 23 Q&A.

Question: “In the American media you are often linked to the immediate circle of the U.S. Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry and the Vice-president of the United States Mr. Joe Biden.”

Archer: “American journalists really think so (smiles). I do know them.”

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire ignited hillsides and destroyed more than two dozen homes Wednesday in the coastal city of Carlsbad as weary firefighters scrambled to control multiple blazes in Southern California on the second day of a sweltering heat wave.

Flames were shooting up along canyon ridges as thick black smoke darkened blue skies over the small city, about 30 miles north of San Diego, known for its Legoland California amusement park that was closed Wednesday because of a power outage.

Mandatory evacuations were in progress, and more than 11,000 notices were sent to homes and businesses. Local TV broadcasts showed the blaze engulfing suburban-style homes with manicured lawns.

No injuries were reported.

State fire Capt. Mike Moehler told KCAL-TV that all of the homes were in the same neighborhood and engines were being called in from across the region to help.

The blaze was one of several wildfires that firefighters in San Diego County were battling amid hot, dry and windy conditions.

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A Carlsbad,Calif. police officer turns traffic away as flames leap behind him Wednesday, May 14, 201 …

Offshore wind means some coastal communities have higher temperatures than inland and coupled with low humidities, "it's just, unfortunately, a recipe for a large fire and that's what we're seeing right now," Moehler said.

Another wildfire further north, forced the evacuation of residents in military housing at Camp Pendleton, and the closure of an elementary school on the Marine Corps base. A third fire spread from a burning vehicle on coastal Interstate 5 to roadside brush near the northwest corner of the Marine base.

Earlier, authorities reported 25 percent containment of a 2.42-square-mile fire that broke out Tuesday and forced thousands of people to flee the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego. In Santa Barbara County, a 600-acre blaze near the city of Lompoc was 50 percent contained.

State fire officials say triple digit temperatures and the drought were setting conditions for an unusually busy firefighting season.

Marine Corps officials said military fire crews on Wednesday were fighting a blaze that started at about 9:45 a.m. at the Naval Weapons Station in Fallbrook, north of San Diego, and had spread to more than 100 acres. Residents in military housing have been ordered to evacuate. Students at Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary School, located on base, were also ordered to go home.

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A woman is evacuated from her building during a wildfire Wednesday, May 14, 2014, in Carlsbad, Calif …

Flames from a burning big rig on Interstate 5 on the northern Camp Pendleton coast have spread to about 3 acres of brush. The California Highway Patrol says at least one lane in each direction remains open, but traffic is backing up. It's unclear why the truck caught fire.

Further south, blazes threatened homes in Carlsbad, and prompted the evacuation of Carrillo Elementary School in the neighboring community of San Marcos.

Evacuation orders were lifted for all of the more than 20,000 residents in and around San Diego on Tuesday night just a few hours after they were called, and all but a handful of those in 1,200 homes and businesses told to evacuate in Santa Barbara County had been allowed to return.

The 2.47-square mile blaze was 25 percent contained. It was hoped that number would increase to 50 percent by day's end, San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson said.

The Santa Barbara County blaze, 250 miles to the northwest, was 50 percent contained Wednesday morning. Firefighters also adjusted its size downward to 600 acres.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries — one heat-related and one from smoke inhalation, state fire battalion chief Ray Cheney said. Neither blaze caused any home damage, but another hot, dry and gusty day was expected as California baked in a spring heat wave as high pressure sat over the West.

In the mountains of southwestern New Mexico, crews battling a 9-square mile wildfire are preparing for high winds this week. And in the Texas Panhandle, about 2,100 residents have started returning to their homes after wildfire burned at least 156 structures. The fire in the Fritch area was 85 percent contained Wednesday.

California wildfires force thousands to flee

More than 11,000 homes and businesses are ordered to evacuate as fires rage out of control.
Over two dozen houses burn