END IN SIGHT FOR IRAN NUKE DEAL

UN: Global powers making significant progress with Iran

VIENNA: Global powers and Iran have hit the final straights of marathon talks, amid signs that some of the toughest hurdles blocking a deal to curb the Iranian nuclear programme may have been resolved.

After a 13-year standoff which has poisoned Iran’s international relations, the United Nations atomic watchdog voiced hopes of a breakthrough to complete a stalled probe into whether Teheran sought to develop nuclear arms in the past.

On complicated moves to ease a web of sanctions, there were indications that at least at the level of experts some understanding may have been thrashed out, although discussions continued as a new deadline looms tomorrow.

The so-called P5+1 – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – are trying to draw the curtain on almost two years of rollercoaster negotiations since the election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2013.

The aim is to finalise a deal which would put a nuclear bomb beyond Iran’s reach, in return for lifting biting international sanctions slapped on the Islamic republic.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano told reporters after a whirlwind visit to Teheran that progress had been made as the Iaea seeks to ensure that any deal is “technically sound”.

“With the cooperation from Iran, I think we can issue a report by the end of the year on the ... clarification of the issues related to possible military dimensions,” Amano said on Saturday after his talks in Teheran earlier this week.

Iran has long denied that it has sought to develop a nuclear bomb, and has so far refused UN inspectors access to sensitive military sites to verify its claims.

The standoff has stalled an Iaea probe into the allegations that before 2003, and possibly since, Iran conducted research work into developing nuclear weapons.

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi were back at the negotiating table early on Saturday seeking to finalise the deal.

Meanwhile, it also seemed there had been some agreement at the expert level on how to ease a web of UN, EU and US sanctions.

A Western official said a deal “was possible” on the US sanctions “but there is no agreement yet on the UN” embargoes.

A senior US administration official said: “Even if and when issues get resolved at an experts’ level, there will remain some open issues that can only be decided by ministers.”

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator, told Iranian TV on Saturday there were still “four or five” outstanding questions on sanctions, including synchronising their lifting with actions by Teheran. — AFP