Iran nuclear envoys near outline agreement buying more time

Lausanne: Iran and world powers are closing in on an agreement detailing the main steps needed to resolve a 12-year standoff over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, giving themselves until 30 June to overcome remaining differences.

Though any understanding is likely to stop short of a full resolution of every issue dogging the nuclear dispute, a statement may be released once Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov returns to the talks this afternoon, according to two officials involved who spoke on condition they not be named in line with diplomatic protocol. The sides would then have three months to draft a detailed technical accord.

Negotiators are exchanging “draft texts and ideas,” Hamid Baeedinejad, a top official at Iran’s foreign ministry, told reporters late Monday, without giving details. He said there were no plans for talks to be extended beyond tonight, according to the state-run Iranian Students News Agency.

Diplomats worked until 2:00 am local time on Tuesday in the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel before resuming their search for the precise terms of an agreement four hours later, according to a European official, who asked not to be identified. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier Tuesday said diplomats were working to iron out “a bit of a crisis” and that new ideas were being exchanged.

Weapons concerns

Diplomats are still weighing different ways of relieving United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions placed on Iran over its nuclear programme.

“There are different formulas, either to lift them or first to suspend them,” Lavrov said at a Moscow briefing. “The point is that in practice the sanctions should no longer be in effect and shouldn’t prevent the development of legitimate economic and trade interests.”

The group of six powers -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US — led by secretary of state John Kerry, is attempting to ensure Iran’s programme is peaceful, amid charges over the years that the nation is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. Iran denies the claims.

President Barack Obama faces opposition in Congress over his administration’s talks with Iran. Members of Congress have pledged to tighten sanctions on Iran if there’s no accord, and to pass laws requiring Congressional oversight of the deal if there is one. Bloomberg