President Reiterates Possibility of Iran-Sextet Final Nuclear Deal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the road to a final, comprehensive deal between Iran and world powers on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program is fraught with difficulties, but at the same time noted that the deal would be possible within a 6-month span.
“Today, everybody believes that reaching the ultimate agreement is possible within the very span of six months,” president Rouhani said in an economic meeting in the country’s southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan on Tuesday evening.
This comes after Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in November last year signed an interim deal on Tehran’s nuclear case, which stipulates that over the course of six months, the parties will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
Elsewhere in his comments, the Iranian president said that “tough issues” are awaiting the two sides in the course of talks to hammer out a final deal, but announced with an upbeat tone that the negotiating parties have made progress in the previous round of talks so far.
“If it (the negotiation process) goes on with the same trend, the final agreement could be reached within six months,” President Rouhani explained.
He added that once the West’s decade-long standoff on Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities are resolved following the long-awaited deal, the whole sanctions on the Islamic Republic will be lifted, meaning the country can establish more monetary and financial interaction with the world.
Rouhani’s comments came after delegates representing Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) wrapped up the latest round of their nuclear talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 9.
The two sides are slated to convene the next meeting on May 13, again in Vienna, to start drafting the text of a final, long-awaited deal on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.