Iran talks hit final stage, announcement expected

However, since the critical July 9 date has passed, the Congress will have 60, instead of 30 days, to review the final comprehensive nuclear agreement, if it is reached between Iran and the P51 group.

All of the officials, who are at the talks in Vienna, demanded anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly.

In a sign that prospects for a deal being concluded on Sunday were fading, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond headed back to London but was expected to return on Monday, officials said.

In Brussels, French President Francois Hollande said the sides are near agreement but “a gap” remains.

The Vienna talks build on a framework agreement reached in early April in the Swiss city of Lausanne, where negotiations lasted late into the night. Other attendees at meeting not Identified. He joined Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who have been mainstays of the negotiations. The pact is meant to impose long-term, verifiable limits on nuclear programs that Tehran could modify to produce weapons.

They have already missed several deadlines in the highly complex discussions in Vienna, but diplomats were hopeful that this time would be different.

“I think we’re getting to some real decisions”, Kerry said before getting into his limousine.

As the weekend approached, Kerry declared the talks couldn’t go on indefinitely and warned that the USA could walk away from the negotiations.

Such an accord, if it can be agreed, approved and implemented properly – which is also no small challenge – would draw a line under 13 years of failed diplomacy and threats of military action.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano came back from Tehran and talks with Iranian leaders early this month saying that a new plan had been drawn up to aid his probe.

Tehran had demanded an end to the UN Security Council’s arms embargo and ballistic missile sanctions, which proved to be one of the most contentious points in the discussions.

“What concerns us every day is Iran’s terrorist activity against us, through arming Hezbollah and funding Hamas and Islamic Jihad and giving them information to develop weapons, and their attempt to open a terrorist front against us in the Golan”, he said.

“After the agreement, we’ll have Iran on the nuclear threshold and continuing to sponsor terrorism”. “Rouhani gave an executive order on Sunday to the country’s Foreign Ministry and its atomic energy organization to enforce the law mandating government to safeguard the nuclear rights and achievements”, the Iranian Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. It said Khamenei told university students in Tehran to be “prepared to continue the struggle against arrogant powers”.