France says Iran nuclear deal unclear as deadline nears

France’s foreign minister Laurent Fabius said yesterday it was unclear whether an international deal could be reached on Iran’s nuclear programme by a June 30th deadline.

Mr Fabius has said he would meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday to assess where Iran stands ahead of the final round of talks on its nuclear programme, which begin later in the week.

“We need to be extremely firm, at the stage where we are now, things are still not clear,” Mr Fabius said in talks with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

However, Iranian politicians approved the outlines of a bill on Sunday that would ban inspections of military sites and require the lifting of all sanctions under any nuclear deal with world powers.

The vote highlighted the continued strains between Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s political allies and his hardline opponents. Monday’s bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers’ summit in Luxembourg, will be followed by a meeting between Mr Zarif and all the European parties negotiating with Iran.

“Towards the end of next week the ministers will go [to the talks], so I’d like to have an explanation and conversation to see where the Iranians are,” Mr Fabius told reporters in Cairo on Saturday, on the first day of the two-day Middle East visit.

In Luxembourg, Mr Zarif will also be meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and ministers from Britain and Germany on Monday to discuss the nuclear talks.

Iran reached a framework nuclear deal with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany on April 2nd in Lausanne.

The parties are aiming for a final agreement by June 30th under which Iran would restrict its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

– (Agencies)