Italy Hopes for Final Iran N. Deal by July 20 Deadline

Federica Mogherini made the comments in a meeting with two Iranian deputies foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi, in Rome on Thursday.

She also voiced her country’s support for the course of negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.

Mogherini hoped that a final, comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear case would be secured in a way "acceptable" for the both sides.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) inked an interim deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva last November, which came into force on January 20. The interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action) 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 the Islamic Republic.

Elsewhere in the meeting, the Italian minister stressed that settlement of the standoff on Iran’s nuclear energy program is of great significance given the delicate and complicated conditions in the Middle East region.

The Iranian diplomats are in Rome to take part in a disarmament conference. Over the past days, the have held a number of separate bilateral meetings with delegates representing the US, France and Russia in order to narrow differences ahead of a high-level meeting among the political directors of the seven nations, slated for June 16-20 in Vienna.

The upcoming negotiations in Austria are aimed at drafting a comprehensive deal to resolve the decade-long standoff over Tehran's peaceful nuclear energy program.