Iranian nuclear deal 'close'
World powers were meeting in Vienna today in a bid to resolve Iran’s nuclear crisis, and diplomats said they were very near to an agreement on a package of incentives and penalties to be presented to Tehran.
“The four are in agreement,” said a diplomat familiar with the talks, alluding to France, Germany, Britain and the United States, all of whom are participating in the talks.
A European official also said Russia and China – the other protagonists - appeared close to signing on to the deal.
The United States said yesterday it would join direct talks with Iran if it agrees to suspend uranium enrichment – a major reversal of a decades-long US policy of avoiding formal high-level contact with Tehran.
But Iran has remained defiant.
“Iran welcomes dialogue under just conditions but (we) won’t give up our (nuclear) rights,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki state-run TV quoted him as saying today in Tehran.
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