If the other side has the political will for an agreement and does not make excessive demands, the ground is prepared for reaching a deal, President Hassan Rouhani said after a meeting between heads of the three branches of government on Wednesday. There has been a growing sense of optimism over the chances of reaching a deal and Tehran has suggested that it has no desire for the extension of the talks beyond the target date. An official close to the negotiations said, “Iran plans to reach an agreement by the deadline and has no desire to extend negotiations on its nuclear program,” RIA Novosti reported.
The foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the major powers in Vienna are "serious" and "intensive".
Marzieh Afkham said senior diplomats from Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) are engaged in bilateral, plenary and expert discussions, IRNA reported.
The last round of negotiations on a final nuclear deal started on Tuesday with the aim of reaching a long-term settlement to the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program by the self-imposed November 24 deadline.
Half Step From Deal
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Iran and the P5+1 are “in half step” from solving Tehran’s nuclear problem. “There are no obstacles in the capitals to reach agreements, (except for) the possible existence or absence of corresponding decisions,” he commented. The diplomat added, "Since the previous round of talks in Oman nothing has changed in its essence."
"There are sanctions, enrichment, Arak (heavy water nuclear reactor), transparency… No progress has happened for a week” Russian News Agency Tass quoted him as saying.
The West has claimed that Iran may have been seeking to develop the capability to build nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program. Tehran denies the allegation, saying its nuclear work is meant only for peaceful purposes, such as power generation.
The director of the US State Department's press office, Jeff Rathke, told reporters on Tuesday, "It would not be logical or good policy to simply terminate sanctions immediately."
He also said, "So if the P5+1 talks with Iran come to an arrangement, we’ve taken the view that it would be better to suspend – rather than terminate – sanctions at first, and only once we are confident that Iran had lived up to its commitments would we look to terminate the sanctions," according to the website of the State Department. The comments came as Tehran has already made it clear that it wants anti-Iran sanctions to be lifted at once and altogether and it is ready to provide guarantees to ease western concerns over its nuclear program.
