France’s Fabius says progress on some points in Iran nuclear talks

But diplomats say Iran will be reluctant to open up to IAEA investigators until the punitive sanctions are lifted.

“It’s the beginning of the last push”.

The underlying issue now seems to be one of trust. Yet the parties must agree to the timing and depth of the sanctions relief, as well as the access IAEA inspectors will be allowed to Iranian nuclear sites.

If negotiators don’t complete their deal by July 7, US officials will have to rush to meet a July 9 congressional deadline. Its both highly scientific and deeply sensitive. And Russian Federation can sell the Islamic Republic state-of-the-art drilling equipment and other technology it needs to rebuild its sanctions-battered oil sector. Several Iranian ports remain blacklisted, which has also slowed down or even blocked many imports.

“We are not there yet, but we are moving forward so it’s going rather well”, Mogherini said.

A successful negotiation could help ease decades of hostility between Iran and the United States.

Officials on both sides credit the other with pragmatic proposals and good faith that transcends their broader differences.

“I will walk away from the negotiations if, in fact, it’s a bad deal”, Obama told reporters. The worldwide Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, has said this information is critical to detecting and understanding future violations. When Barack Obama asked the American people to return him to office, he said his bottom line on a nuclear agreement would be that Iran end its nuclear program and abide by all United Nations Security Council resolutions.

In May, Congress asserted its constitutional right to review any final agreement with Iran.

There has been discussion of “managed access” but what that means is still not crystal clear.

Under the mooted deal, it will be up to the IAEA, which already keeps close tabs on Iran’s declared nuclear sites with between four and 10 inspectors on the ground on any given day, to verify that Iran really does reduce its capacities. “My hope is they can achieve an agreement”, Obama said. He returned with Iranian atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi, who missed earlier sessions due to illness. But it does require access to military bases if grounds for suspicion about what might be going on at them are established.

The Additional Protocol widened the scope of verification and increased the IAEA’s ability to look for secret nuclear sites by giving it the authority to visit any facility to investigate questions about a state’s declarations, according to the nonprofit Arms Control Association group.

Another outstanding issue is what limits will apply to Iran’s work on advanced centrifuge development and testing during the first ten years of an agreement and the pace of deployment in the next five years.

As the clock ticks down to another self-imposed deadline, there is now a looming date that some call the “real deadline”.

Amano arrived in Tehran on Thursday to discuss mechanisms for clarification of key nuclear issues with top Iranian officials.

VIENNA: British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Thursday there was no breakthrough yet in the Iran nuclear talks as they stretched into a sixth day, but insisted work was continuing for a deal. “Of course, it’s unpleasant for the Iranians to come clean on all their dirty linen and there is a lot of dirty linen”, said an official from a country involved in the talks. “Our experts have therefore been working around the clock … to create the prerequisites that will enable us to fulfill our part of the agreement punctually and in full when the time comes”.