Iran Nuclear talks: a few hours left to reach an agreement

Yesterday, foreign ministers of the P5+1 group (the United States, Great Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany) were on the final stretch of the race to reach an agreement in the Iran nuclear before the 31 March deadline.

These negotiations, initiated 18 months ago, are still being opposed in Israel. Their outgoing minister of the interior, Gilad Erdan, remarked yesterday that “ there is a strong possibility of an agreement in principal being reached in the next two days, but between now and the signing of an agreement, planned for the end of June, there is enough time for diplomatic activity.” For his part, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahou, condemned “the Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axis”. Despite continuing “crunch points”, Iranian diplomats, who are asking for the lifting of sanctions and the right to continue the Iranian nuclear research and development programme, seemed optimistic on Sunday.