Guardian: Final Nuclear Agreement Only After Agreement on All Details

The Guardian newspaper reported, citing a senior European diplomat, that even if this week's negotiations between Iran and world powers lead to an agreement on key aspects of the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, much of this agreement will remain confidential until the end of the June deadline. In its Wednesday, April 5 edition, the British newspaper quoted this senior European diplomat as saying, "This week is not the end game. There will be no agreement by the end of this week, as an agreement will only be reached when all the numerous technical details are agreed upon." The comments from this unnamed senior European diplomat come ahead of a new round of nuclear talks between Iran, the U.S., the U.K., France, China, Russia, and Germany, which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described as "very sensitive." On the first day of this new round of negotiations, which is Thursday, Mr. Zarif is set to meet with his American counterpart, John Kerry, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Iran and the 1+5 group have set the end of March (less than a week away) as their deadline for reaching a general agreement, after which they aim to finalize a comprehensive deal regarding the controversial nuclear program of the Islamic Republic by the end of June (three months later). However, the senior European official told The Guardian that what is more important is the second deadline, under which all details and annexes of a complete agreement must be finalized. According to him, the negotiating parties are still working on the text of the final agreement, and 60 percent of its details remain unresolved. This senior European official emphasized, "What we hope to achieve by the end of this week is a common understanding on key issues and factors." Previously, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, stated that the differences between the Islamic Republic and world powers have "significantly decreased," with only "one or two fundamental issues" remaining. In this context, China once again urged Iran to sign the final nuclear agreement. Kerry stated that withdrawing from the negotiations would lead to the collapse of the sanctions process against Iran. Hammond warned that the failure of the nuclear talks would plunge the Middle East into an arms race.