US Says Comprehensive Nuclear Deal with Iran Closer Than Ever

“We are closer than we have ever been to a comprehensive agreement,” Marie Harf told reporters in a press conference in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, adding that the two sides are sitting at the negotiating table to clinch a comprehensive agreement.

Her comment came as the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) is set to be held at the level of deputy foreign ministers in the Swiss city of Geneva before January 20.

At the end of talks held last week at Geneva’s President Wilson Hotel, the two sides agreed to resume the negotiations next month.

It came less than a month after the parties decided to extend for more 7 months a self-imposed deadline for signing a comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s civilian nuclear work.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) wrapped up a week of intensive nuclear talks in Vienna on November 24 without reaching the long-awaited deal.

Negotiations between Iran and the sextet aim to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.