Amano will meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other senior officials, the IAEA said in a statement on Wednesday.
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Significant disagreements persist, not least over the level of inspections on Iranian sites, how quickly the West would roll back sanctions and what types of research and development Iran would be permitted to conduct on advanced nuclear technology.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday reiterated that he would not hesitate to “walk away” from a nuclear deal with Iran if the conditions are not satisfactory.
He said his instructions to negotiators in Vienna has been “extremely clear”, that any nuclear treaty with Iran must have to ensure that Tehran will not be able to build or get a nuclear weapon.
“We are not at the end of the negotiations”, Fabius said upon his departure.
But officials said over the weekend they were nowhere near a final accord.
“There may be a calculation by Moscow that the Western powers may be more reluctant to elevate sanctions over Ukraine in order not to jeopardize cooperation over Iran”, Samore said.
In the first such interpretation of what the global Atomic Energy Agency’s so-called Additional Protocol allows, a senior Iranian negotiator told reporters in Vienna that, should a deal be reached, monitors will receive broad access to facilities.
Diplomats said that a new worldwide Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report will show proof that the negotiations have been successful. They now aim for an agreement by July 7, days before the Obama administration would be required to submit it to Congress for a 30-day review. But with the prize tantalisingly close and the atmosphere seemingly positive, the week-long extension came as no great surprise.
The United States Senate feels differently; it passed, with a unanimous vote, a resolution in May calling for the immediate release of the three known American prisoners in Iran and for Iranian leaders to help locate Levinson.
Iran and the P5+1 group – the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany – have effectively given themselves until Tuesday to reach a deal.
Washington, as the superpower most at odds with Tehran, has played a central role.
Western countries suspect Iran of seeking the capability to make a nuclear weapon.
The day originally had been envisioned as the culmination of nearly two years of secret and then public negotiations aimed at assuring the world Iran can not produce nuclear weapons and providing the Iranian people a path of out of their worldwide isolation.
At the same time, only 29% of those polled said they are confident the deal will stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb in the next decade, the minimum goal Obama has set.
But the U.S.is cognizant of Iranian concerns about the IAEA. “I don’t think we’re at any kind of breakthrough moment yet and we will do whatever we need to do to keep the momentum”, Hammond told reporters upon arrival in the Austrian capital.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who joined the talks in Vienna earlier Tuesday, said however he believes that, after nearly two years of trying, a deal ending the 13-year standoff is “within reach”. “Iran will implement its commitments at the same time that all these economic and financial sanctions will be terminated”, Iran’s news agency IRNA quoted him saying. If the administration waits until July 10 or later, the congressional review period grows to 60 days, which potentially could cause political problems for the administration.
The idea was to have both sides prepare everything so that the implementation of a deal would start on a specific day, he added.
The main differences are on the pace and timing of sanctions relief for Iran and on the nature of monitoring mechanisms.
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It also baulks at the desire of the IAEA – which it sees as biased and riddled with spies – to visit military sites such as Parchin and interview its scientists.
