Hammond trying hard to make deal with Iran

IRNA – British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had tough negotiations with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Lausanne on Sunday.

Twitting about his meeting with Zarif, he said he discussed a number of serious and unsettled issues with the Iranian foreign minister.

Both sides are working hard towards an agreement, he added.

Late on Sunday, the British official also said that he believed a nuclear deal with Iran could be reached.

‘We are here because we believe a deal can be done,’ Hammond told reporters waiting in the rain outside a Lausanne hotel as he became the last of the foreign ministers to arrive for talks with world powers.

‘It’s in everyone’s interests that a deal does get done. But it has to be a deal which puts the bomb beyond Iran’s reach,’ he said, according to AFP.

‘If we’re going to get this done here over the next few hours Iran has got to take a deep breath and make some tough decisions,’ Hammond said.

‘And I very much hope we will have success over the coming hours.’