VIENNA, July 17, /ITAR-TASS/. Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany) have decided to work through the night to discuss a possible extension of the talks on a comprehensive agreement after the current deadline expires on July 20, a diplomatic source close to the talks told ITAR-TASS on Thursday, July 17.
He said many questions remained unresolved and solutions had to be found to them.
An Iranian diplomat told ITAR-TASS earlier in the day that Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif would meet on Friday, July 18.
The talks, which were supposed to be concluded on July 20, will continue. No concrete deadlines will be set but the sides understand that the comprehensive agreement has to be worked out before November 24, a day before the end of a year since the adoption of the Geneva Agreement.
The diplomat said that Iran and the six world powers might change the venue of the talks.
Iran and the P5+1 may resume negotiations on a comprehensive agreement in September, a Western diplomatic source close to the negotiations said earlier this week.
July 20, the current deadline for arriving at a comprehensive agreement, is only several days away but there are too many questions remain to be solved. The diplomat said, adding that the sides were considering extending the negotiations and holding a new meeting in September.
A diplomatic source in the Iranian delegation told ITAR-TASS earlier in the day that the deadline could be extended for weeks or even months.
Another source in the Iranian delegation told ITAR-TASS that the talks might be extended but to no longer than November 25, a year since the adoption of the Geneva document. The consultations may be extended until that date by mutual agreement of the sides.
The interim nuclear deal made on November 24, 2013, called for taking the first step of reciprocal actions to prove good faith in a six-month period to be followed by negotiations for a comprehensive agreement, according to which the Western governments will acknowledge the Iranian nuclear programme as civilian.
The deal was called the first step to be followed by a comprehensive agreement, which, on the one hand, should resolve the international community’s concerns about the Iranian nuclear programme and, on the other hand, remove economic sanctions that slow down Iran’s economic development.
The agreement reached by and between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany) in Geneva last year became effective on January 20, 2014.