Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 will go beyond the June 30 deadline as the Iranian foreign minister left Vienna for Tehran on Sunday night for consultations.
"Given the dates, and that we have some work to do ... the parties are planning to remain in Vienna beyond June 30 to continue working," a U.S. State Department official told the Associated Press. Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif held several bilateral meetings with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry over the last two days. They met on Sunday for their third round of talks in Vienna.
Zarif will return to Vienna on Tuesday, according to IRNA news agency. Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany) are holding talks in Vienna to finalize a deal over Tehran's nuclear program.
A spokesperson of the Iranian negotiating team also said that negotiations might continue after July 1. "As announced before that negotiations may continue after July 1 in case more time is needed to work on the draft agreement, now considering there are many things to be done, the delegations will stay in Vienna after July 1 and will continue the negotiations to reach a good comprehensive agreement," the spokesperson said, according to ISNA news agency.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who met his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, said that P5+1 and Iran need to fulfil three conditions to strike a deal. The conditions included an accord that recognizes Iran's right to a civilian nuclear program with guarantees that Tehran would not seek nuclear arsenals, verification of military bases if necessary and an automatic impose of sanctions in case of violations, according Mehr news agency.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, warned on Sunday that world powers were retreating from their own red lines in talks, reported Dawn. "We are seeing a clear retreat from red lines that the world powers set recently and publicly. There is no reason to rush to sign this bad agreement which is getting worse every day," Netanyahu said.
