Ex-IAEA chief says final Iran N-deal possible before July 20
By Sara Rajabova
IAEA's former chief said a final agreement over Iran's nuclear energy program would be possible before July 20.
"This could act as an icebreaker for other international issues like Syria or Ukraine. An agreement by the end of July would be quite desirable and possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will get," former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Hans Blix told Austrian daily broadsheet Die Presse.
Blix also censured the proposed inclusion of the Iranian defense systems in the nuclear talks.
"It is strange that now new points are introduced into the negotiations. I understand the Iranian confusion in this regard. Because the weapons program was not included in the Geneva interim agreement," he said.
Iran and P5+1 have been discussing ways of ironing out differences and drafting a final deal that would end the West's dispute with Iran over its nuclear program.
Recently, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran will do its best to achieve a final agreement, and its objective in the talks is to say that Iran's nuclear program has always been peaceful, and the country will never seek to build nuclear weapons.
Iran and the P5+1 group wrapped up their latest round of high-level nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria, on May 16 without any result.
Iranian officials blamed the U.S. for the failure, claiming that Washington has made excessive demands beyond the agreements made in the previous rounds of talks.
The two sides signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva last November, and it came into force on January 20 this year.
Under the Geneva deal, the six countries pledged to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran's agreement to scale down certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.