Iran Nuclear Talks Expected To Yield Provisional Agreement Today
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Nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers are expected to end Sunday with a provisional agreement.
Unnamed diplomats told the Associated Press on Sunday that final details were being worked out and that an official announcement of the deal would come on Monday. The seven countries involved in the talks will then have to approve the deal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday morning on his way to church services in Vienna that “a few tough things” remain to be settled but that he was “hopeful” after a meeting the previous day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday: “I hope that we are finally entering the last phase of this negotiation.”
A deal would exchange sanctions relief for guarantees that Iran is not advancing toward a nuclear weapon.
Israel objects to the emerging deal, saying its terms will leave Iran a nuclear threshold state and increase its ability to disrupt the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning blasted “the parade of concessions to Iran” in the soon-to-be-announced deal, “even on issues that had been marked as red lines in the Lausanne package, which is a bad deal in its own right.”
He referred to Al-Quds day marches on Friday in Iran, including one led by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, where U.S. and Israeli flags were burned and the crowd chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
“Iran does not hide its intention to continue its murderous aggression even against those with whom it is negotiating. Perhaps there is someone among the great powers who is prepared to capitulate to this reality that Iran is dictating, which includes its unending calls for the destruction of Israel – we will not pay the price for this,” Netanyahu asserted.
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