Iran dismisses Reuters report on nuclear deal draft

An Iranian source close to the country's nuclear negotiations with the P5+1 group has dismissed a Reuters report on a draft nuclear deal between Tehran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany.

“Intense negotiations with the P5+1 countries are continuing at all levels to achieve solutions to different issues,” the source noted, dismissing the report as groundless and media hype.

Reuters on Friday quoted officials as saying that Iran and the six-party nations were close to an agreement on a 2 or 3-page accord with specific numbers that would form the basis of a long-term settlement aimed at ending the Western dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

It claimed that a senior Iranian official familiar with the talks had said that the “sides are very, very close to the final step and it could be signed or agreed and announced verbally."

On Saturday, senior negotiators from Iran and the United States kicked off another day of their latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

Iranian deputy foreign ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e Ravanchi held talks with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman in that regard.

The three later joined Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry for talks to find solutions to outstanding issues ahead of a deadline for a comprehensive agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Zarif on Friday reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s determination for a nuclear agreement with the P5+1 countries and called on the other parties to show political will.

“I feel we can definitely find solutions, but achieving them requires political will from the other side,” the top Iranian nuclear negotiator pointed out.

Iran and the P5+1 countries – the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany -- have been in talks to resolve outstanding issues surrounding Tehran’s nuclear activities to pave the way for striking an overarching deal on the country’s nuclear energy program as a deadline slated for July 1 draws closer.

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