Disputes over attempts to probe Tehran’s alleged work on nuclear weapons unexpectedly persisted at Iran nuclear talks yesterday, diplomats said, threatening plans to wrap up a deal by midnight — the latest in a series of deadlines for the negotiations.
The diplomats said at least two other issues still needed final agreement: Iran’s demand for a lifting of a UN arms embargo and Tehran’s insistence that any UN Security Council resolution approving the nuclear deal be written in a way that stops describing Iran’s nuclear activities as illegal.
They demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the negotiations.
Photo: AFP
With a temporary deal set to expire at midnight yesterday Vienna time, diplomats said they hoped to complete and announce a final agreement before day’s end.
However, they said that there was no guarantee, with some adding that talks could stretch into today despite there being little appetite for what would be a fourth extension of the interim agreement since the current stretch began on June 27.
Grim-faced foreign ministers from the nations negotiating with Iran declined to answer questions about another possible adjunct as they gathered for a group meeting in the 19th-century palace that has been hosting the talks.
“Definitely, I believe there should not be an extension in the talks, but we can work to reach a result as far as it is necessary,” Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said in remarks carried by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
One of diplomat said the delay posed by the disputes was unexpected, with negotiators expecting that they would have been resolved by late on Sunday.
Beyond placing long-term limits on Iran’s present nuclear program, the US wants to ensure that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has wide-ranging authority to investigate the nuclear arms allegations after nearly a decade of being essentially stalemated.
Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano returned from Tehran and talks with Iranian leaders early this month saying that a new proposal had been drawn up to aid his inquiry.
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