Iran’s Zarif says some differences remain in nuclear talks with major powers

Iran and the group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the U.S. and Germany want to close a deal by Tuesday midnight. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman who authored the bill that set up the July 9 deadline said Sunday he urged Kerry not to focus on the deadline, but instead to “make sure these remaining red lines…do not get crossed”.

The secretary said there had been “genuine progress” made in talk but that “several of the most hard issues” still remain.

“It’s now time to see whether or not we are able to close an agreement”, Kerry said outside a 19th-century palace where negotiations have been taking place.

Kerry has met with his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, nearly every day for several hours.

Building on a framework deal reached last April, a complex web of sanctions against Iran will be progressively eased if Tehran massively scales down its nuclear programme for at least a decade.

Foreign ministers from the five countries partnering with the United States in the talks were due to arrive later Sunday in the Austrian capital, in the hope that a deal will be ready for them to discuss and endorse.

The nuclear deal with Iran facing a deadline on Tuesday will ensure the country’s nuclear activities can continue, Iranian media reported.

KIM LANDERS: The fate of global talks aimed at striking a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions hangs in the balance. But US and Iranian officials have suggested privately in recent days that the negotiations could extend to later in the week.

The United States and its allies fear Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

Another complication to keep in mind is that if an accord is not presented to the US Congress by July 9th, the White House would have to make the call whether to push to finalize a deal later this summer and then submit it for a 60-day review, or to just throw in the towel and give up on the negotiations for now.

“We discovered almost accidentally in the process of the war with Iraq that they had a secret enrichment program”, said Carnegie Endowment for worldwide Peace nonproliferation expert George Perkovich.

“The conclusion is simple, its been said by many leaders, and I will say it again right now: better no deal than this very bad deal”, Netanyahu said on Monday.

“In our opinion, the treatment of Iran by the Security Council has been awful”, the official said.

“‘The Western side insists that not only should it (ballistic missiles) remain under sanctions, but that Iran should suspend its program as well, ‘ an Iranian official said.”

He said an agreement with Tehran over its nuclear program would “pave Iran’s path to the production of very many atomic bombs and it will also channel to Iran hundreds of billions of dollars that will serve its aggression and terrorism campaigns in our region and around the world”.

In another indication of a breakthrough senior officials from the United Nations watchdog, the worldwide Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were flying to Tehran for talks. “I mean, I think they look at this as a legacy issue”.