Conflicting Reports on Progress in Drafting Comprehensive Nuclear Agreement

"A close source" to the Iranian nuclear negotiation team neither confirmed nor denied reports of 90% completion of the final agreement text with the P5+1 group, stating that "important brackets" remain in the text and that this progress "holds no particular value." Sergey Ryabkov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, announced on Thursday, June 25, that about 90% of the comprehensive nuclear agreement text between Iran and the P5+1 had been drafted. However, he noted that "this 90% refers to the total volume of the comprehensive agreement document, not the significance of the content." According to the state news agency IRNA, "a close source" to the Iranian nuclear negotiation team, whose name was not mentioned, on Friday, June 26, neither confirmed nor denied statements about progress in drafting the final agreement text with the P5+1. This "close source" confirmed that "a significant portion of the text" of the final agreement draft has been "cleared of brackets" but added that the "remaining brackets" concern "important and fundamental contentious issues." The source further stated: "Thus, the mentioned progress in the text does not hold particular value in terms of reaching an agreement. Therefore, a quantitative assessment of the progress in the text may lead to ambiguity and confusion." The eighth round of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 for drafting the final nuclear agreement continues in Vienna, and reports indicate that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry are expected to join the negotiations on Friday. Reports indicate that the timing of lifting sanctions and how to resolve ambiguities regarding the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program are among the unresolved issues in this round of negotiations. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, recently announced a new list of red lines for these negotiations, stating that the lifting of Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic "should not be conditional on Iran's commitments being fulfilled." However, John Kerry stated that the negotiations have not been affected by the recent statements of the Supreme Leader and will continue. The deadline for the final agreement between Iran and the P5+1 expires in five days, but Iranian and American officials have recently mentioned the possibility of a short extension of the negotiations.