Araqchi: Drafting Nuclear Deal with P5+1 Countries May Start Wednesday

Local Editor

Senior Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that Iran and the P5+1 countries are geared up to draft the text of a long-awaited agreement on Tehran's nuclear energy program as early as Wednesday.

"We hope to begin drafting its text as of tomorrow, not beginning with major issues though, but drafting its general framework and its prelude," Araqchi said in a press conference in the Austrian city of Vienna on Tuesday.

Araqchi further made clear that the road to a final, comprehensive agreement is fraught with differences in views, saying that, "We hope to achieve the initial text in this round of talks, although it might include tens, and even hundreds of sentences on differences of opinion."

Moreover, representatives from Iran and the P5+1 countries- Russia, China, the US, Britain, France- and Germany have started a fresh round of high-profile negotiations in Austria since June 16.

The five-day negotiations are aimed at drafting a comprehensive deal to resolve the decade-long standoff over Tehran's peaceful nuclear energy program.

The negotiating parties are trying to hammer out a final agreement by a July 20 deadline.

They inked an interim deal on Tehran's nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva last November 2013, which came into force on January 20. 

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team