Merkel hopeful about Iran-P5+1 nuclear talks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed optimism over the conclusion of a final agreement between Iran and six world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program.

“I would like to point out that we have hopeful signals on the Iranian issue. Here the cooperation of states with [UN Security Council] veto, with Germany and Iran has led to a result nonetheless,” Merkel said during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Sunday.

“We have hope for signing an agreement,” Merkel added.

The German official further underlined the necessity for the settlement of key regional and international issues, including the crises in Syria and Ukraine as well as the Iranian nuclear case.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany -- reached a mutual understanding on the parameters of a comprehensive agreement over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 2. 

The two sides held expert-level talks in Vienna, Austria, on April 24. The three-day talks were held in a bid to draft the text of a final agreement based on the mutual understanding reached in Lausanne.

Iran and the six-party group have agreed to finalize a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear program by the end of June.

On May 7, experts from Iran and the P5+1 ended their latest round of talks in New York, which were held on the sidelines of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

In this round of the negotiations, during which the two sides worked on the draft of a final deal over Tehran’s nuclear work, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held important talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini.

The two sides are set to start the next round of four-day talks on Tuesday in the Austrian capital, Vienna at deputy and expert levels in order to narrow gaps on the outstanding issues.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said last week that Iran and the P5+1 countries will continue negotiations until the “brackets” in the first draft of a deal are removed.

“We have already a draft. Now, we have to work on this draft for the second go, third go, and fourth go as long as necessary in order to remove the brackets one after another and come to a clean text,” Araqchi added.

He also stressed that it takes time to remove the existing gaps in the first draft.

“Still, we [have] a long way to go. Still, the number of brackets are many,” he highlighted.