Efforts to reach a nuclear accord with Iran gathered speed as the head of the UN’s atomic energy agency tried to sweep away hurdles in Tehran and foreign ministers from world powers joined negotiations in Vienna.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano traveled to Iran to try to win consent for probes that would clarify whether the nation’s nuclear past had a military dimension. He met with Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani who helps oversee the military and was to sit down with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani later yesterday.
The foreign ministers of China, France, Germany, the UK and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini were to join US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks in Vienna.
As he arrived in Vienna yesterday to join the discussions, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “The work goes on. You are going to see ministers coming and going to maintain the momentum of these discussions. I do not think we are at any kind of breakthrough moment yet and we will do whatever we need to do to keep the momentum.”
Hammond met with Kerry, who was holding a series of meetings with US partners in the nuclear talks before an evening negotiating round with Iranian officials.
Kerry was scheduled to talk later with Mogherini and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅).
Yesterday evening was set to be dominated by Kerry’s scheduled session with Zarif.
Six days into the final round of talks, diplomats said progress is building around an agreement that would eventually lift Iranian sanctions in return for nuclear curbs.
The US and Europe extended their interim agreement with Iran until Tuesday next week to try to win time to clinch a deal.
“The effort of all parties to reach success is genuine. The open question, which I cannot answer you yet, is whether the will and courage will be sufficient among all at the end,” German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
“We are in the last days of negotiations and at a stage where they are very intensive,” Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi told Iranian journalists in Vienna, the official Iranian Students News Agency reported. “Ministers will leave Vienna at the end of the day today and it is yet undecided when they will return.”
The world powers want to ensure Iran’s nuclear program remains peaceful and have been adamant about maintaining a sanctions threat. For Iran, holder of the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves, an agreement would mean a phased end to trade and financial sanctions that have hobbled its economy.
Economic, financial and banking sanctions must be lifted on the same day a deal is signed, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised address on June 23. He was “pessimistic” about the role of the IAEA, saying it had not acted fairly.
Iranian officials have rejected allegations that the country’s nuclear program had a military dimension, blaming bogus intelligence by Israel’s Mossad and the CIA.
Additional reporting by AP and Reuters
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