Iran and six major world powers have managed to reach a preliminary agreement on ‘all the key aspects’ of a deal over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program, Russia’s FM has announced, adding that the sides have begun drafting the text.
Two Western diplomatic sources told Reuters earlier that Iran had been given the deadline of dawn on Wednesday to accept a political agreement, but a senior US official later denied these claims.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Minister said talks had a high chance of producing a deal.
"Iran does not want a nuclear deal just for the sake of having a deal, and a final deal should guarantee the Iranian nation's nuclear rights," senior nuclear negotiator Hamid Baidinejad told reporters. "We will continue the talks until we reach an agreement over disputed issues."
A top US official has also acknowledged that tough talks with Iran went past the midnight deadline into Wednesday.
"We will of course keep working if we are continuing to make progress, including into tomorrow, if it's useful to do so. At this time, no decisions have been made about our travel schedule," the official said as cited by AFP.
French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius has also said talks have been progressing, but has not ruled out that the P5+1 group may negotiate through the night.
"We are moving forward, but it's complicated, it's long, difficult and I fear that we will spend the night (negotiating)," Fabius told reporters.
The German delegation source also said it was “too early to think about stopping the clock.”
“But that may be necessary,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
“This has to be decided now,” a Western diplomatic source told Reuters, adding that “it can't carry on for six more days.”
"The mood is back and forth, a difficult struggle for a realistic solution that is acceptable to both sides," a German delegation source said. "It remains an open question whether we will succeed."
Even though negotiations may have to go later than expected, the overall mood in Lausanne is positive.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there were “quite promising prospects” of reaching the deal, but he stressed, “there is never 100 percent certainty.”
“We have an opportunity to realize our chances if no party to the negotiations tries to raise the stakes at the last moment to get something extra instead of keeping a balance of interests,” Lavrov stressed during a joint media conference with his Vanuatu counterpart Sato Kilman.
Lavrov interrupted his participation in the talks in in Switzerland's Lausanne on Monday for a meeting with a delegation from Vanuatu, a small Pacific nation recently devastated by a cyclone.
Later on Tuesday Lavrov returned to the negotiations, which are in a make-or-break last day phase.
The Russian minister added that once a compromise is reached, the UN Security Council should dismantle the sanctions it imposed against Iran over its nuclear program. As for the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, “we do not recognize them in any situation, whether it is Iran or any other country,” Lavrov noted.
Some diplomats say an agreement may be signed during a later meeting in Geneva.
“We are working meticulously to produce a document. If all goes well, the signing ceremony may take place in Geneva rather than Lausanne,” a diplomatic source in the Iranian delegation told TASS, describing the round of negotiations as a “daunting marathon.”
Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian-American Council told RT that he’s “pretty confident we’re going to see a deal” at the end of the current talks.
“I don’t think the parties have got this far in order to see a collapse. I think that this is a moment for potential brinkmanship, attempts to get the best possible deal, the last mile of the race,” he said.
Abdi believes that the signing of the deal may also lead to an improvement in relations between Iran and the US, which currently have no diplomatic ties.
“If we can fix the nuclear issue we might begin to turn the page and shift the paradigm, and see increased, positive opportunities for diplomacy between the US and Iran, and other states in the region,”he stressed.
Iran and the P5+1 group, which includes five permanent members of the UNSC plus Germany, have gathered in Lausanne to hammer out a framework deal, which would settle a decade-old controversy over Iran's nuclear development. Tehran was accused of pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program by some countries, but insists that it only wants to use nuclear energy for civilian use.
The deal would put restrictions on Iranian nuclear activities, which would prevent it from rushing towards nuclear capability while allowing it to develop a civilian nuclear industry.
The negotiations are opposed by some of Iran's regional rivals, most notably US allies - Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel vigorously obstructed the negotiations, claiming that they would result in a “bad deal.”
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