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Round of Iran-P5+1 talks may end July 18

17 July 2014 00:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The currently ongoing round of talks between Iran and the six international negotiators on Tehran’s nuclear program may end July 18, but the parties seriously discuss extending the negotiating process, a diplomatic source in the Iranian delegation said Wednesday, APA reports quoting ITAR-TASS.

“The current round may end already on Friday [July 18],” the source said. “The sides are seriously discussing the possibility to extend the negotiating process after July 20, which means changing the deadline when a comprehensive agreement should be drafted.”

“The terms of extending it are not clear yet,” the source added. “It may be weeks or months. This is currently discussed.”

Earlier, another representative of the Iranian delegation told ITAR-TASS that the negotiating process might be extended up to November 25, when it would be a year since the adoption of the Geneva agreement. Upon mutual consent of the parties, the negotiations may be prolonged until this date.

Two weeks after the start of the current round, which was supposed to be the final one, Iran and the six world powers have not yet come to agreement on key aspects of Tehran’s nuclear program.

What seemed highly unlikely at the beginning of the month can be more and more often heard from diplomats and chief negotiators: the sides may fail to agree the final document by July 20.

Even the heads of the delegations and ministers participating in the talks have stopped making forecasts. After three days of intensive consultations in Vienna, US Secretary of State John Kerry said before flying home on Tuesday, July 15, that the chance to reach an agreement remained but all the same he would discuss a possible extension of the talks with US President Barack Obama and Congress.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was even less optimistic and said getting the agreement by July 20 was just a possibility and noted that Tehran had not decided yet whether it should continue the talks after July 20.