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Iran's nuclear program

Talks with Iran at decisive stage — German foreign minister

"Talks have entered the decisive stage. I hope we will achieve success within the next few hours or days," Steinmeier said

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier

LAUSANNE, March 28. /TASS/. Talks with Iran are at the decisive stage, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Saturday upon arrival for talks on Iran’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"Talks have entered the decisive stage. I hope we will achieve success within the next few hours or days. For the time being, I would compare talks with ascent of a mountain: we see the ultimate target - the top of the mountain, but we don’t know yet whether we will be able to ascend it," Steinmeier said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius are already in Lausanne.

Steinmeier is expected to take part today in a trilateral meeting with Kerry and Fabius and hold a separate meeting with Zarif. A ministerial meeting of the six international negotiators on Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran is due Sunday.

At a meeting in Vienna in November 2014, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France - plus Germany) and Tehran agreed to extend the deadline for a deal in the talks on Iran’s nuclear program to June 30, 2015.

The agreement stipulated that by the end of March 2015, the sides planned to achieve a principled political decision regarding disputed issues.

Iran says it needs nuclear power to generate electricity, but Western powers led by the United States claim Tehran's eventual aim is to create nuclear weapons.

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Iran's nuclear program issue

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