Iran Nuclear Deal Close to Completion, Says Mogherini

Tehran –  Diplomats in Vienna are close to clinching a historic deal on Iran’s nuclear program, according to European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

“We are near to close the deal, it is a good deal,” Mogherini told reporters late Sunday after meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was heading to Tehran for consultations with his leadership before returning to Vienna.

 According to Bloomberg, Mogherini said both sides have shown the “political will” to finish drafting a long-term accord to limit Iran’s nuclear activities. Foreign ministers from all seven nations involved in the talks will gather again in the Austrian capital once a deal has been drafted, said Mogherini. The negotiations are in their 21st month.

Underscoring progress, two diplomats from among the six countries negotiating with Iran said the country has agreed to wait for sanctions relief until after United Nations inspectors have verified that curbs are implemented, Bloomberg reported. Final details are to be worked out on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s assessment of the possible military dimensions of Iran’s past nuclear work.

That compromise would resolve one of the most contentious issues bedeviling negotiators confronted with public statements by Iranian officials who have insisted sanctions relief take effect immediately once a deal is agreed to.

A deal “will be possible, provided that the other side has the needed political will,” Iran’s Zarif said before leaving Vienna.

Zarif’s brief return to Tehran may be a sign that he is engaging Iran’s senior leaders in final consultations to commit to a deal, said diplomats at the talks. Ministers from the six world powers — the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, China and Russia — will meet their Iranian counterpart again in the Austrian capital within days.

Iran has been subject to dozens of international sanctions targeting energy, banking, mining, shipping, ports and an array of other trade that have damaged its economy, even as its nuclear capacities continued to grow.

Sanctions on Iran, including oil and banking restrictions, would be phased out in step with Iranian implementation of the deal, according to several diplomats from two delegations. Negotiations continue on the exact sequencing of sanctions relief and the timing for a UN Security Council resolution that would enshrine the deal and set the path for sanctions relief, they said.

Iranian negotiators have agreed on the phased approach to sanctions relief once the IAEA has verified compliance, Trita Parsi, founder of the National Iranian-American Council and an advocate for a deal, said in an interview in Vienna.

Parsi, who said he had spoken with Iran’s negotiators, outlined the three stages that could result in a face-saving solution that recognizes both sides’ red lines: first, an agreement is made; second, a pause is taken while the U.S. Congress reviews the deal; and third, Iran receives sanctions relief after the deal is verifiably implemented.

Former CIA Director says Iran has ‘upper hand’ in nuclear talks

In the same context, Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said that the United States has lost its edge going into the final days of a nuclear negotiation with Iran.

“I would actually fear that the Iranians have the upper hand right now,” Hayden said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I actually fear we have painted ourselves into a corner where we believe that any deal is better than no deal at the present time.”

Hayden said the framework of the deal doesn’t go far enough in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear arsenal in the future.

On Sunday, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News that world powers meeting in Vienna to hammer out the nuclear deal will miss their June 30 deadline.

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif’s returned home for consultations on Sunday. Zarif is expected to return to Vienna to join counterparts from other countries at the negotiating table to push for a breakthrough on the talks.

U.S. officials said they are “unconcerned” about the pace of talks and that Zarif’s trip home had been scheduled in advance.

However, several media outlets noted that the fact Zarif was leaving the talks so close to the deadline showed he needed permission to proceed with several issues tied to the talks, including how much access Tehran should give U.S. investigators monitoring Iran’s compliance to any deal.

It’s a sticking point that the U.S. and other powers cannot afford to negotiate, Hayden said.

“We need the ability to go places,” he said.

Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain are aiding the U.S. in diplomatic discussions.

IRNA

R.S