90% of issues resolved in Iran-US nuclear talks

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says Tehran and the Washington have resolved their differences over 90 percent of the issues in the talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

“We have reached mutual understanding on a majority of issues [in the negotiations], there just remains a single sticking point, which is very important,” Ali Akbar Salehi told IRIB News on Tuesday.

The AEOI chief added that Tehran and its negotiating sides will try to resolve the remaining disputed case in the evening session of discussions, which is underway in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

Salehi is in Lausanne as part of the Iranian negotiating team, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in the third day of talks with the American team, led by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Helga Schmid, the deputy of EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also attending the evening session of the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear file.

“If that one case could end in the desired result for the two sides, it could be said that more or less, the technical issues have been clarified in their entirety,” Salehi added.

The talks between the US and Iran are part of broader negotiations between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries, namely Russia, China, the US, the UK, France and Germany, to reach a comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program as a deadline slated for July 1 draws closer.

Before attending talks in Lausanne, Salehi held two rounds of negotiations with US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Geneva and Montreux.

The former Iranian foreign minister was added to the team of negotiators in recent talks in order to discuss the technical issues between the two sides and help settle them.