UK: Iran nuclear negotiators have reached broad understanding
by Joseph
Earnest April 1, 2015
Newscast Media LAUSANNE,
Switzerland—A senior member of the
Iranian nuclear negotiating team said on Wednesday
that Iran and the six world powers had already resumed drafting ways of
resolution of dispute over Iran's peaceful nuclear program.
Abbas
Araqchi told reporters on Wednesday that Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the
five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) could issue a
final statement on resolution of key issues soon.
The two sides are negotiating a
solution to the remaining disagreements and it is expected that they
issue a final statement after tying all the loose ends.
Head of the
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi and the US
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz met also on Wednesday morning as part of
efforts between Iran and the G5+1 aimed at reaching mutual understanding
in the negotiations.
Speaking
to reporters after marathon talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 in
Laussane, Switzerland, early Wednesday morning, Iran's Foreign Minister
Mohammad-Javad Zarif said the negotiating teams from Iran and the six
world powers have found solutions to a major portion of their
differences and will start drafting the final deal later on Wednesday.
He voiced pleasure in the latest round of the negotiations and said, "Very good progress was made in the talks."
Asked if differences have been resolved, Zarif said, "Solutions have been fully specified for most issues."
A
few minutes earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran
and the world powers have eventually worked out an agreement, adding
that the seven nations are now working on drafting the text.
Speaking
to Russian media at the end of marathon talks in Lausanne, Switzerland,
early Wednesday morning, Lavrov said Iran and the G5+1 have reached an
agreement in principle on all key issues.
"Now this has to be drafted," he said.
Britain’s
foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has said negotiators at the Iran
nuclear talks in Switzerland have reached “a broad framework of
understanding”, but that details still have to be agreed.
“I
think we have a broad framework of understanding but there are still
some key issues that have to be worked through,” the foreign secretary
told a group of British broadcasters.
“Some of them are quite
detailed and technical so there is still quite a lot of work to do, but
we are on it now and we’ll keep going at it.”
He added: "We have
made significant progress over the last few days but it has been slow
going. We decided to break last night because some of the staff had been
working through the previous night. We wanted people to be fresh as we
tackle the last few issues that remain.
"We are now working on
them this morning. I’m optimistic that we will make further progress
this morning, but it does mean the Iranians being willing to meet us
where there are still issues to deal with. Fingers crossed and we’ll
hope to get there during the course of the day." Add
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