Iran, major powers unlikely to meet nuke deal deadline: officials

PanARMENIAN.Net - Despite nearly a year of negotiations, Iran and six major powers are unlikely to meet a Nov 24 deadline to reach a final deal to lift international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, officials say.

Reuters quoted some western and Iranian officials as saying that the two sides would probably settle for another interim agreement that builds on the limited sanctions relief agreed a year ago as they hammer away at their deep disagreements in the coming months.

"We could see the outline of a final deal emerging by Nov 24 but probably not the deal itself," a Western official said.

Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, along with the European Union's former foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton are locked in talks which have shuttled between Brussels, Oman and Vienna.

Publicly all sides say it is still possible to reach a comprehensive agreement to end all sanctions in return for long-term limits on Iran's nuclear program to ensure it never makes an atomic weapon.

Privately, expectations of what is achievable when senior foreign ministry officials begin the final week of talks next week in Vienna are much more modest, Reuters says.

"What is very likely is to reach a more detailed version of the Geneva agreement, enough to tackle the recession in Iran and also to extend the talks," a senior Iranian official said, referring to the interim accord reached in Geneva a year ago which set the current talks in train.

Some diplomats said a simple extension of the negotiations was possible, and a senior Iranian official said this could be until March. They were extended already for four months in July.

One senior Western diplomat close to the talks, who like the Iranian official spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that the six powers were still doing everything possible to get a solid, comprehensive agreement this month as planned.

"I can categorically deny that behind closed doors ambitions are more modest," the official said. "Everyone is pushing very hard for the 24th." Russia's senior negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said on Wednesday he was optimistic a deal could be reached in Vienna.

Western and Iranian officials said a collapse of the talks was unlikely as all sides want an end to the 12-year dispute.