Zarif: If All Parties Adhere to Lausanne Agreement, We Will Reach a Deal

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, stated that if all parties involved in the negotiations regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear program adhere to the Lausanne understanding, there is a possibility of reaching a comprehensive and final agreement. In an interview with 'Al-Manar' on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Foreign Ministers' meeting in Moscow, Zarif said: 'If the negotiating parties adhere to the agreements made in Lausanne, we will achieve a final agreement.' In response to the question, 'Do you think the nuclear negotiations will reach a positive final result within the deadline?' he stated: 'We have found solutions to all existing issues and are currently in the process of drafting this agreement. In my opinion, there is always a way to draft agreements regarding technical nuclear issues, but what complicates progress in drafting the agreement is excessive demands or attempts to introduce new issues.' Zarif also expressed hope that if all negotiating parties adhere to the agreements reached in Lausanne and work to clarify the details of these agreements, we can take steps forward and reach an agreement. Iran and the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia, along with Germany (the 1+5 group), announced on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland, that they had established the 'frameworks' for the final agreement. According to the Lausanne understanding, the scope of Iran's nuclear program will be limited in exchange for the lifting of European Union and United States sanctions and United Nations Security Council resolutions against the Islamic Republic. Iran and the 1+5 group have until July 11 to reach a final and comprehensive agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program. In related news, Hamid Baidi Nejad, a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, stated that the remaining issues for resolution were complex and time-consuming, and called for intensive planning for negotiations in the remaining time. He noted that representatives from the U.S., Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China, and the European Union emphasized the necessity of reaching an understanding within the established timeline, stating that resolving the remaining issues, given their complexities, requires extra effort from everyone involved. It was agreed that methods for more intensive negotiation planning would be further examined by all members. One of the remaining issues regarding Iran's nuclear program is the 'possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program' (PMD), for which a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team stated that 'a series of solutions' were proposed, including a suggestion from the other side to specify a list of individuals and centers that the agency could have managed access to. In this context, Abbas Araghchi, a senior member of the Iranian negotiating team, emphasized that if Iran accepts the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), part of the final agreement with the 5+1 group would involve 'managed access.' Araghchi stressed that Iran does not accept 'inspections and visits' of 'non-nuclear' military or civilian sites, while adding that 'what is proposed in the Additional Protocol is the discussion of managed access to these sites.' Meanwhile, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, has ruled out interviews with Iranian nuclear scientists and inspections of Iranian military sites, while Amir Ali Hajizadeh, one of the commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has assessed inspections of these sites 'under any title' as 'espionage.'