The Iranian regime and six world powers are still apart on all main elements of a nuclear deal with less than two weeks to go to their June 30 target date and will likely have to extend their negotiations, two diplomats in Vienna tell The Associated Press.
The comments by the diplomats in the Austrian capital, where negotiators have been meeting five days a week, enforce concerns that obstacles to reaching a deal remain beyond the public debate on how far the Iranian regime must open its nuclear program to outside purview under any deal.
The two diplomats who are familiar with the progress of the talks spoke shortly before a planned five-day round reconvened Wednesday. They demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the confidential negotiations.
Ways of implementing specific parts of the deal are supposed to be contained in four or five annexes to the main text of an agreement.
The diplomats described the draft of a main document as a patchwork of text and dozens of blank spaces because of stubborn disagreement on up to 10 elements crucial to any deal. Those details are to be included in four or five annexes, which remain incomplete.
Negotiators are concerned about a lack of headway on all issues. Russian chief delegate Sergey Ryabkov said last Friday the “the rate of progress … is progressively slowing down.”
Meanwhile, the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission in the Iranian regime’s Parliament said that reaching a nuclear agreement is not likely.
The state-run Mehr news agency quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi on Wednesday as saying: “Due to excessive demands of the other side and the resistance of us, the possibility of reaching a final agreement is not high”.