Pressure is mounting on world powers and Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear programme and avoid the issue becoming bogged down in the US Congress. If a final agreement is not reached by Friday, Congress will double the time it takes to review an accord. That will delay the lifting of US sanctions. BBC was there:
The pace at which sanctions are lifted is a major issue at talks in Vienna. World powers and Iran are still locked negotiations, despite missing a self-imposed 30 June deadline. The so-called P5+1 (US, UN, Russia, UK, France and Germany) and Iran are still believed to differ in three key areas – international inspections of Iran’s non-nuclear sites, sanctions, and how Iran’s compliance will be verified.
Iran also wants a UN Security Council arms embargo to be scrapped – something the US has ruled out.
World powers want to be satisfied that Iran is neither trying to develop a nuclear bomb, nor has the capability to do so in under at least a year. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes.
