Iran Ready to Push Hard for Final Nuclear Deal: Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced the country’s preparedness to work hard to clinch a comprehensive nuclear agreement with world powers with a week to go before a deadline for the deal.
“Our team is ready to work with the maximum speed during the remaining seven days to reach the deal that we are all after,” Zarif told reporters in Vienna on Sunday night.
Earlier in the day, the top Iranian diplomat had held a series of meetings with foreign ministers from the US, Britain, France and Germany in the Austrian capital.
“(Today) we held negotiations for more than 5 and half hours. We explored the avenues to narrow differences,” Zarif added.
Revealing “some extent of progress” in the nuclear talks, head of the Iranian negotiating team noted that the diplomatic meetings will continue in the coming days, saying, “A tough week is ahead of us.”
He also called on the whole parties to work hard in the days before a July 20 deadline rather than “defining red lines”.
Delegates from Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) have launched this new round of nuclear talks in the Austrian capital since July 2 in a bid to hammer out a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear case.
This round of talks is expected to run until at least July 15. With time running short, the two sides have now a week to clinch a deal by their self-imposed deadline that expires on July 20.