First Draft of Comprehensive Nuclear Agreement Expected in Coming Days

A senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiation team expressed hope that the 'first draft' of the comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group will be finalized 'in the coming days.' According to the IRIB news agency, Abbas Araqchi, a senior member of the Iranian negotiation team, stated on Friday, April 30, that 'the first draft will be full of contentious issues and, as we say, will have parentheses that need to be decided on later.' Araqchi mentioned the 'existence of appendices for this draft' and noted that experts have begun working on the 'appendices' to discuss 'details and issues.' He described the process of drafting this document over the next two months as 'heavy' and 'difficult,' adding, 'Our intention is to stay in New York for as many days as necessary for this work.' According to Araqchi, the next round of meetings to draft the final agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program will take place somewhere in 'Europe.' The drafting of the final agreement text between Iran and the P5+1 began on Wednesday, April 21, in Vienna, Austria, with the first topic being how to lift sanctions on Iran, a goal that Araqchi stated would be 'complex' and difficult to achieve. Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, two senior members of Iran's nuclear negotiation team, have continued drafting this text in New York since Thursday, April 29, during negotiations with Helga Schmid, the Deputy Foreign Policy Chief of the European Union. While the Tasnim news agency reported that negotiations for drafting this text would continue until next Tuesday, an anonymous Iranian diplomat told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) that discussions would continue for another two to three days and 'probably until Monday' in New York. This Iranian diplomat also commented on the progress in drafting the final agreement text, stating, 'The work is hard, but we are making progress.' Iran and the P5+1 countries announced on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland, that they had established the 'framework' for the final agreement, known as the Lausanne understanding. Following this understanding, Iran and the world powers are expected to reach a comprehensive and final agreement by July 1.