Expert-Level Nuclear Talks Continue in Vienna

Expert teams from the P5+1 and Iran are meeting in Vienna to draft technical annexes to a comprehensive deal. Lead U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman arrived in Vienna today. Her counterparts from the P5+1 will also join her on Friday. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Ravanchi are already in the city. Al-Monitor’s Laura Rozen reported today that the talks may go into overtime, with negotiators focused on the 30 June deadline for reaching a final deal.  

Progress in resolving the remaining issues has been slow since the two sides reached a framework agreement in Lausanne on 2 April. Among the unresolved issues is the determination of possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program or lack of, with IAEA as the lead agency to make that determination. But Iran’s supreme leader has forbidden granting access to IAEA to inspect military sites suspected of carrying work on nuclear weapons in the past. The exact sequence of sanctions relief also remains unresolved.

UPDATE: World powers are prepared to accept a nuclear agreement with Iran that doesn’t immediately answer questions about past atomic weapons work, U.S. and Western officials said. (AP, 11 June)