Iran close to nuclear deal
Historic agreement with world powers in ‘final phase’ after talks
AFTER more than two weeks of marathon negotiations, Iran and six world powers were close to nailing down a historic nuclear deal that would bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s atomic programme, diplomats said.
Iranian and western officials said an agreement could be ready by today, with Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian delegation, saying on Twitter: “We are working hard.”
A western official said Tehran and Washington would need time to consult their capitals once an agreement was reached.
US Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned that some difficult issues remained on the 16th day of ministerial negotiations between Iran, the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
“I think we’re getting to some real decisions,” Mr Kerry told reporters in the Austrian capital. “So I will say, because we have a few tough things to do, I remain hopeful.”
In a sign that a deal might be close, both Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi joined the talks.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he hoped the high-stakes negotiations were finally drawing to a close.
“I hope, I hope, that we are finally entering the final phase of this marathon negotiation,” he said.
“France’s position has been one of constructive firmness and I hope it will allow us to reach the end now, quickly, for a satisfying result.”
A senior Iranian official also said an agreement was close.
“Some 99 per cent of the issues have been resolved and the agreement is ready,” said an Iranian diplomat. “With political will, we can finish the work late tonight and announce it tomorrow. But still there are at least two issues to be resolved.”
Iran and the six powers involved in the talks have given themselves until Monday to reach a deal, their third extension in two weeks, as the Iranian delegation accused the West of throwing up new stumbling blocks to an accord.
Among the biggest sticking points this week has been Iran’s insistence that a UN Security Council arms embargo and ban on its ballistic missile programme dating from 2006 be lifted immediately if an agreement is reached.
Russia, which sells weapons to Iran, has publicly supported Tehran on the issue.
Western powers have long suspected Iran of aiming to build nuclear bombs and using its civilian atomic energy programme to cloak its intention – an accusation Iran strongly denies.
The goal of the deal is to increase the time it would take for Iran to produce enough enriched uranium fuel for a single weapon to at least one year from current estimates of a few months.
If there is a deal, the limits on Iran’s enrichment programme are expected to be in place for at least a decade.
Other problematic issues in the talks are access for inspectors to military sites in Iran, answers from Tehran over past activity and the overall speed of sanctions relief.
An agreement would be the biggest step towards rapprochement between Iran and the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.