World must 'seize opportunity' of sealing nuclear deal: Iran

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posted on 9 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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"Right now good progress has been made although we are some distance away from the final agreement," President Hassan Rouhani said.

Tehran: Iran has taken "necessary steps" and now it is the turn of the World powers to "seize the opportunity" of sealing a landmark nuclear deal, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. "Right now good progress has been made although we are some distance away from the final agreement," Rouhani said, during a meeting with India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

"We have taken the necessary steps and now it is the other side's turn to seize the opportunity," the President was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Rouhani said that though gaps remain between Iran and the P5+1 powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany -- it was up to them to seal a deal. The cut-off date for the technical details of a comprehensive deal is June 30 and negotiators are working toward the political outline of an agreement by March 31.

Rouhani's remarks come a day after US President Barack Obama said, "The issues now are sufficiently narrowed and sufficiently clarified, where we're at a point where they (Iran) need to make a decision."

"We are presenting to them in a unified fashion -- the P-5-plus-1, supported by a coalition of countries around the world, are presenting to them a deal that allows them to have peaceful nuclear power but gives us the absolute assurance that is verifiable that they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon," Obama said.

"What they claim is true, which is they have no aspiration to get a nuclear weapon, that, in fact, according to their supreme leader, it would be contrary to their faith to obtain a nuclear weapon, if that is true, there should be the possibility of getting a deal. They should be able to get to yes," said the US president.

Disagreements between Iran and world powers centre on the extent of nuclear activities Tehran will be allowed to continue and the timetable for the lifting of sanctions. The West suspects Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at producing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies, insisting it is for peaceful purposes.