White House: We Have Never Been This Close to Reaching an Agreement

As the deadline for reaching an agreement in the Iran and 1+5 group negotiations has been extended until Monday, July 13, the White House announced that the two sides have never been this close to a final agreement. According to Reuters, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, stated in a press conference that the U.S. and other members of the 1+5 group have never been this close to an agreement, but the patience of the U.S. delegation is not unlimited. He added, 'President Barack Obama has instructed the U.S. negotiating team to continue discussions as long as they believe the negotiations are useful.' Earnest emphasized that if it becomes clear that Iran is not interested in constructive engagement to resolve the remaining issues, the negotiators should return to their country. Meanwhile, John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, described the atmosphere of the negotiations on Friday as 'constructive' and stated, 'We have resolved some of the remaining issues and made progress.' However, he added, 'There are still some remaining issues that will be discussed in negotiations on Friday evening and Saturday.' The nuclear negotiations between Iran and the U.S., U.K., France, China, Russia, and Germany, members of the 1+5 group, have been extended in Vienna until Monday. In this context, the U.S. and the European Union announced that they have extended the suspension of sanctions against Iran for three more days. The EU stated that this extension is to provide more time to reach a long-term solution regarding Iran's nuclear issue. A senior U.S. State Department official also mentioned that necessary steps are being taken to ensure that the provisions of the 'Joint Action Plan' remain in place until July 13. Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, previously stated that despite the progress made in the nuclear negotiations, it is unlikely that the talks will conclude on Friday. 'Important political issues remain.' In this regard, Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, told Christiane Amanpour, a senior CNN reporter, that 'two completely political issues' remain to be resolved. Reports indicate that Mogherini has canceled her trip to Srebrenica to attend the anniversary of the massacre there to continue her presence in the Vienna negotiations. On the other hand, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told ISNA, 'I don't think there are many issues left in the negotiations, and many of the issues have been resolved with the other parties.' According to Reuters, reaching a final and comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program would be a significant victory for both Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani. The news agency added that given the increasing threat of Islamists in the Middle East, an agreement on Iran's nuclear program could lead to a shift in the political alignments of countries in the region.