The Iranians and the U.S. and other international leaders claimed to reach a breakthrough Thursday in talks to roll back on Iran’s nuclear program and are set to announce the loose parameters of a tentative deal that could take up to three months to solidify.
“Found solutions. Ready to start drafting immediately,” Iranian Foreign Minister tweeted Thursday just minutes before he and Secretary of State John Kerry were set to address reporters about the negotiations progress.
“Big day: #EU, P5+1, and #Iran now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear program,” Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted. “Back to work soon on a final deal.”
“Thanks to God we finalized the solutions. Will write the draft within next week,” Zarif added on his Facebook page.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, and Zarif read a joint statement laying out some broad strokes of the agreement, noting that Iran’s enrichment capacity will be limited “for specific durations” and there will be no other enrichment facility but one, located at Natanz, Iran’s central facility for enrichment.
She also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency would be permitted to use modern technologies and have access on “agreed procedures” to conduct inspections of Iran’s facilities.
In exchange for these and other arrangements, Mogherini said the EU would terminate all nuclear- and economic-related sanctions. It was unclear whether those sanctions would be lifted immediately or over time.
“Today we have taken a decisive step – we have reached a solution on key parameters of a diplomatic solution,” said Mogherini, crediting the hard work of all parties.
“This is a crucial decision laying the agreed basis for the final test…,” she added, noting that all sides will begin drafting the text of the final deal in the coming days.
Zarif then read the joint statement in Farsi.
Before the reading of the joint statement, a German official confirmed the breakthrough but also suggested that it was extremely tentative and far less than the firm political framework U.S. negotiators had sought in this round of the talks, telling reporters gathered in Lausanne, Switz., that an “agreement on a framework for final agreement has been reached.”
A German official confirmed the deal, telling reporters gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, that an “agreement on a framework for final agreement has been reached.”
Negotiators have spent the past six days involved in intense negotiations aimed at working out a loose political framework for deal to put the brakes on Tehran’s development of a nuclear weapon.
Kerry and Zarif worked through the night Wednesday on some of the sticking points.
Both men are scheduled to address the press Thursday, although it is unclear how much detail they will divulge about the status of the talks.
The Iranians and the U.S. officials openly disagreed Wednesday morning about the level of detail to disclose publicly. Kerry pushed to provide a political framework complete with bullet points on areas of agreement while Zarif said he planned on making on a vague statement citing progress.
