MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - Iran and the so-called P5+1 group are unlikely to reach a permanent deal on Tehran's nuclear program before a four-month extension period expires in November, Press TV reported Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying Friday.
“If a general agreement is reached on different issues in the nuclear talks, we still need more time to negotiate the details. Therefore, it is unlikely that we will reach a final deal earlier than the four-month deadline of the talks,” Zarif said, Press TV reported.
In July, Iran and a group of six international mediators – Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany – agreed to extend the deadline to reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program by four months.
Zarif added that the sides have made progress and expressed hopes that the talks would eventually yield results.
“From the very beginning, we have been of the contention that if there is a strong willpower on the side of the West, nuclear negotiations can bear fruit very soon,” Zarif was quoted as saying by Press TV.
Under the Geneva action plan adopted last November, the six world powers and Iran by July 20 were supposed to reach a deal guaranteeing the exclusively peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for a step-by-step lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic republic.
