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  ‘Too early to tell if Iran deal sealed’

‘Too early to tell if Iran deal sealed’

REUTERS
Published : Jun 29, 2015, 11:08 pm IST
Updated : Jun 29, 2015, 11:08 pm IST

US secretary of state John Kerry warned Monday it was too soon to tell if a nuclear deal with Iran is possible as he awaited the return of Iran’s foreign minister from consultations in Tehran.

US secretary of state John Kerry warned Monday it was too soon to tell if a nuclear deal with Iran is possible as he awaited the return of Iran’s foreign minister from consultations in Tehran.

“We’re just working and it’s too early to make any judgements,” Mr Kerry told reporters in Vienna following a weekend of intense talks with counterparts from five other major powers and Iran.

In a possible sign of progress, meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that he would arrive on Tuesday, coinciding with the expected return of his Iranian opposite number Mohammad Javad Zarif.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, speaking in New York, said he would be back in Vienna this week. It was unclear when his British, German or Chinese counterparts might follow suit.

Over the weekend officials from both sides made clear that their Tuesday deadline to nail down a deal was highly unlikely to be met, although they said they would only extend by several days.

Meanwhile, a system has been reached in talks between Iran and major powers towards a nuclear deal that will give the UN atomic watchdog access to all suspect sites, a senior US official said Monday.

“The entry point isn’t we must be able to get into every military site, because the United States of America wouldn’t allow anybody to get into every military site, so that’s not appropriate,” the official said.

“But if in the context of agreement... The IAEA believes it needs access and has a reason for that access then we have a process that access is given,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

“We have worked out a process that we believe will ensure that the IAEA has the access it needs.”

Another senior US official on Monday dismissed suggestions from critics that the United States would cave in to Iran to reach an agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear programme.

The official said that if the United States had wanted to make huge concessions to reach a deal it could have done so long ago and that such criticism was “absurd.” US President Barack Obama recently sent a private message to Iran’s leadership via Iraq’s Prime Minister, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday on the eve of a deadline for a nuclear deal.