Diplomats say there's momentum for Iran nuclear deal
U.S. diplomats tell CBS News there is momentum toward a nuclear deal with Iran and they should know by tonight if one will be possible. There is no expected announcement of a final deal on Sunday but one could come as soon as Monday night. In a sign of final decision-making, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was asked to fly to Vienna today to weigh in.
Due to the voluminous size of the draft agreement, a senior Iranian official told CBS News that a deal by Sunday night is "simply logistically impossible." The provisional agreement with Iran is a 100-page technical document that still needs to be reviewed by leaders in seven different capitals, including Tehran and Washington.
The goal is to close by Monday July 13th, which is when the existing freeze on Iran's nuclear program is set to expire. A number of foreign ministers also need to attend to other commitments outside of Vienna. As one Western diplomat told me, "above all, we have absolutely zero interest with further prolongation."
A senior U.S. official said that they are still talking through a handful of some of the most contentious issues including sanctions roll out, whether to phase out an arms embargo off Iran, and the duration of restrictions on Iran's nuclear development beyond the first decade of a deal. The last 1 percent of these issues are the toughest, according to this U.S. official, and they could imperil everything else that has already been agreed upon.
Negotiators are getting antsy. French diplomats are eager to be home to celebrate Bastille Day on Tuesday and American diplomats are increasingly aware of just how much time Kerry has spent in Vienna.
A senior U.S. official said it is clear that the Secretary of State cannot be exclusively dedicated to this single issue for much longer. In this 16th day of marathon negotiations, Kerry has now been out of the country on this mission longer than any U.S. Secretary of State in more than thirty years. Citing that significant amount of time, American diplomats reject the idea that Kerry is rushing toward a bad deal. They have pledged to make any final deal publicly available though portions of Iran's declarations will not be as they will remain private communications to the IAEA.
