Signs of hope for Iran accord
Negotiators expressed cautious optimism that a political accord could emerge from intensive talks underway in Lausanne, Switzerland, but US officials caution that Iran still has important decisions to make to prove its program peaceful.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — There are growing signs that six world powers and Iran anticipate possibly being able to reach a political agreement on a final nuclear accord by the end of the month, if not before, though they caution that some decisions still need to be made.
“I am very optimistic,” Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told Al-Monitor March 16 after some five hours of meetings with US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and their technical teams.
“Finally, we will get something,” Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters March 16 after he left five hours of meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry to travel to Brussels to meet with European foreign ministers and EU high representative Federica Mogherini.
The negotiations are “a bit of a roller coaster,” a senior US administration official at the talks, speaking not for attribution, said March 16.
