Iran, Sextet to Begin Drafting Final N. Deal Today: Negotiator
VIENNA (Tasnim) – Iran and six world powers are geared up to draft the text of a long-awaited agreement on Tehran’s nuclear energy program as early as Wednesday, a top Iranian negotiator in Vienna said.
“In this round of talks, we hope to start drafting the text (of an agreement) and define a general framework including titles and structures. We will start drafting the text as soon as tomorrow,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters in the Austrian capital on Tuesday night.
The senior Iranian negotiator, however, made clear that the road to a final, comprehensive agreement is fraught with conflicting views, laying bare the diplomatic challenge the both sides are now facing.
“The sphere ahead of us is quite broad,” he added, noting that every single topic in an ultimate deal covers “various political, legal and technical aspect.”
“On every issue, the views are different and there are divisions,” Araqchi underlined.
Showing signs of determination of the Iranian team, Araqchi expressed the hope that the two sides could reach a draft text at the end of the ongoing talks in Austria, even if that text “includes tens of or hundreds of sticking points.”
He underlined that despite all differences, Iran and the sextet do agree on two specific issues, namely Tehran’s entitlement to continue enriching uranium and an ultimate removal of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The final deal will definitely include Iran’s enrichment program, Araqchi explained, but added that “the level, limit and percentage” of that enrichment activity is under debate.
As regards the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions, the top diplomat said talks are underway on a “timetable” to remove the embargoes.
Representatives from Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) have started a fresh round of high-profile negotiations in the Austrian capital since June 16.
The five-day negotiations are aimed at drafting a comprehensive deal to resolve the decade-long standoff over Tehran's peaceful nuclear energy program.
The negotiating parties are trying to hammer out a final agreement by a July 20 deadline. They 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.