Negotiators at the Iran nuclear talks plan to announce Monday that they’ve reached a historic deal capping almost a decade of diplomacy that would curb the country’s atomic program in return for sanctions relief, two diplomats told The Associated Press on Sunday.
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Iran does not recognize Israel and supports terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, which have both fought wars against Israel.
Ali Khamenei said at a meeting with students in Tehran over the weekend that the struggle against the United States will continue even if a nuclear deal should be reached.
An agreement would be the biggest step towards rapprochement between Iran and the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, although both sides are likely to remain wary of each other even if a deal is concluded.
The current round of nuclear talks is now in its 16th day and has been extended three times since the first deadline of June 30 was missed.
He added that “fighting the Arrogance is a Revolutionary principle” and that if it did not exist “we were not followers of Holy #Quran”.
Rouhani, who was elected president in 2013 on a platform of improving Iran’s relations with the world as well as its sickly oil-based economy, was quoted by Iran’s Nasim news agency as suggesting talks could succeed or fail.
As mentioned by Yaari, the US negotiators have given in to an Iranian demand that inspections are “managed” – in other words, there will be no surprise visits, only those that are pre-arranged and approved by the Iranian regime.
An Israeli report aired on Friday indicated that a deal had already been reached – with major USA concessions – and is set to be signed this upcoming week. “We never left the negotiation table and always provided the best answer”, Nasim quoted him as saying in a meeting with artists.
On his return early Sunday afternoon, the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said: “I hope we’re arriving finally at the last phase of these marathon negotiations”.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House oversight committee, said Sunday on Fox News that without 24/7 access to Iranian military sites by inspectors, “this is not a deal we should be making”.
However, another Iranian official in Vienna said it was “too optimistic” to predict a breakthrough.
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IRNA reported that the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, and EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief, Helga Schmidt, held meetings with Iranian deputy Foreign ministers on Sunday.
