Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russian Federation and China – plus Germany are pressing ahead with talks to hammer out a final deal after they missed a self-imposed June-end deadline.
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This is gravely concerning to those of us in Congress who define these sanctions as addressing a wide-range of Iran’s nefarious acts.
By all indications, this is a tremendous diplomatic victory for Iran, thus short cutting a potentially arduous and lengthy process. Some of the toughest disputes, including the question of easing United Nations sanctions, were likely to be left for foreign ministers when they arrived in the Austrian capital on Sunday, officials said.
The deal was approved by experts on both sides, though a senior administration official says that “there will remain some open issues that can only be decided by ministers”.
Obama also said that he would be willing to walk away from a deal if Iran did not agree to conditions that would block the nation’s path to a nuclear weapon.
Meanwhile, nuclear talks between the Iranian delegation and the P5+1 continued in the Austrian capital.
But he added: “If we reach an agreement that respects our red lines then there will be a deal”.
Others include gaining access to Iranian nuclear sites to monitor compliance with a future agreement and coming up with a timetable for lifting economic sanctions. “Concessions over the inspections regime, concessions on how sanctions will be lifted, concessions on the amount of centrifuges, research and development of advanced centrifuges and more”.
Global Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Yukiya Amano visited Tehran on Thursday with the aim of clearing up one of the thorniest issues in talks in Vienna towards a historic nuclear deal between Iran and major powers.
According to a source close to the Iran negotiation team, as of July 4th, there were still some residual issues regarding the sanctions, the Additional Protocol, and what is referred to as the “Possible Military Dimension (PMD)”, but none of these at this stage is going to “break the deal” and are expected to be resolved in the next few days.
To keep pressure on Iran, negotiators had been hoping to finalise a system for reintroducing sanctions if Iran cheats on the accord.
Amano was in Tehran on Thursday for meetings with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other top Iranian officials to discuss the stalled IAEA investigation into Tehran’s past nuclear work.
“My impression is that the political will (to get a deal) exists but that this has not yet been transmitted to the bureaucrats” working on the text, Zarif, due to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry later, told Iranian television.
“Obama wants this as the centrepiece of his legacy, and he believes a peaceful Iran could be a bulwark against Isis in the Middle East and the key to peace there”, said an American diplomat involved in the negotiations, which face a deadline for agreement on Tuesday.
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Low-enriched uranium can be enriched further for weapons purposes.
