TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he saw “signs” yesterday a long-term nuclear deal could be reached with major powers after the latest round of talks in Vienna.
“There are signs that an understanding is possible that respects the rights of the Iranian nation,” the Fars news agency quoted Zarif as saying.
“It is planned that we start work during a meeting scheduled for the month of Ordibehesht (April 21 to May 21)... on drafting the text of an agreement,” he said.
“That is to say we will have spent three months conducting comprehensive negotiations and will spend the next three months drawing up the final agreement.”
Under an interim agreement Iran struck with the six powers in November, the two sides are aiming for a long-term deal by a July 20 target date.
The latest round of talks wrapped up on Wednesday, with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton describing them as “substantive and useful.”
Zarif said he was “pleased” with the discussions so far on four key issues in any agreement — Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, its enrichment of uranium, civil nuclear cooperation and the lifting of Western sanctions.
“On the (lifting) of the sanctions, it seems that we are getting close to an agreed plan,” Zarif said.
But he said there was no agreement on the Arak reactor which Western governments want to remain completed for fear that its plutonium waste could give Iran an alternative route to a nuclear bomb.
“The Arak rector is part of Iran’s nuclear programme and will remain so. But if there are any concerns about the reactor, they should be addressed,” he said.
Zarif said negotiations would continue at the experts level ahead of the next round of talks on April 7.
It will be very difficult to overcome differences between Iran and six world powers over Tehran’s uranium enrichment programme, though all parties aim to adhere to their 6-month deadline to reach a nuclear deal, a senior US official said yesterday.
“It’s a gap (on enrichment) that’s going to take some hard work to get to a place where we can find agreement,” the senior US administration official said after the latest round of negotiations on Iran’s atomic programme in Vienna.
The official said there were many elements involved in Iran’s enrichment activity that would need to be settled, including monitoring, the Natanz and Fordow enrichment facilities, and Iran’s stockpiles of the material.
Agencies
