US to pursue final Iran-P5+1 nuclear deal

US-Kerry

The United States has expressed its determination to press ahead with efforts to finalize a nuclear deal between Iran and six major world powers before a November 24 deadline.

“I want to get this done,” Kerry said after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris on Wednesday, adding, “And we are driving toward the finish with a view of trying to get it done.”

The top US diplomat also noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran is entitled to enjoy nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

“They have a right to a peaceful program,” he said, stressing, “We believe it is pretty easy to prove to the world that a plan is peaceful.”

Fabius also said it was “very important” for Washington and Paris to have a united approach as negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear energy program enter a final stage.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — France, Britain, the US, Russia, China — plus Germany are set to open a new round of discussions over Tehran’s civilian nuclear work in Oman on November 11.

The two sides are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding standoff over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program as a November 24 deadline draws near.

Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block in the way of resolving the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the bans imposed on the country, and not the number of centrifuges or the level of uranium enrichment.

Tehran wants the sanctions entirely lifted while Washington, under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby, insists that at least the UN-imposed sanctions should remain in place.