Russian Foreign Minister: Iran-P5+1 Deal 95% Agreed
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The deal between the group 5+1 and Iran on the Iranian peaceful nuclear program is 95 percent agreed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
"I think we are moving. We are moving in the right direction. Some 95 percent maybe of the deal, if you take the paper, which is being negotiated, is agreed. But the remaining 5 percent is where the devil is, two or three very difficult issues," Lavrov said.
"(The issues are) Difficult, I mean, they're resolvable, but difficult from the point of view of making a political decision to compromise on both sides," he added.
"We - together with China - proposed (a) couple of formulations which can be useful. They are not rejected. The consultations, negotiations would continue. We still have (a) couple of months before the date which was targeted, November 24. So, I am cautiously optimistic," the minister said.
Nuclear negotiators representing Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) held a new round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in New York this week. The negotiations were wrapped up on Friday night without making any tangible progress.
Iran and the six nations on November 24, 2013, signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal.
