Iran could have a nuclear settlement by July 20, which is the date existing sanctions expire. — AFP pic

TEHRAN, June 14 — A deal on Iran’s nuclear program is possible by July 20 and talks will continue between Tehran and six major powers if the deadline is not met, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said today at a press conference to mark a year since the election that propelled him to power.

“If our counterparts have the necessary determination and goodwill, it’s possible to reach an agreement in five weeks, but if we don’t reach one, we will continue with negotiations,” Rouhani told a gathering of foreign and Iranian journalists in Tehran. Iran won’t return to the past, he said.

Iran and six world powers are seeking to agree a final settlement to a decade-long dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. An interim deal signed in November, which offered Iran limited relief from international sanctions in return for caps on its atomic work, expires July 20.

Iranian and US negotiators met last week in Geneva in a bid to overcome hurdles—including issues such as the number of centrifuges that Iran will be allowed to keep, and hence how much enriched uranium it can produce—that have stalled progress. The next round of formal talks is scheduled to start June 16.

The US and its allies want an accord to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such ambition, and is seeking a deal that will end its economic isolation.

The Obama administration and Iran have said they are open to an extension to allow more time for obtaining a final agreement. The US Congress, though, has threatened new sanctions if a final deal isn’t completed by next month.

US relations

Last year, on the eve of his election, Rouhani described Iran’s relationship with the US as “a chronic wound,” bemoaned Iran’s fractured relationship with the international community and spoke of Iran’s failure to stop the best of its white-collar workforce from fleeing overseas.

Soon after taking office in August, he was on the phone to US President Barack Obama, the first direct conversation between presidents of the two countries since the revolution in Iran in 1979.

The rapprochement, while irking conservative politicians and fuelling his opponents at home, cleared the way for Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to pursue the nuclear talks.

“It’s amazing how quickly the new normal becomes the new normal—we tend to forget that nine months ago this was impossible,” Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said by telephone.

The economy has shown tangible improvements: Consumer price inflation slowed to 17.4 per cent in April, having almost halved over the last six months. The International Monetary Fund said in February that Iran’s economy was stabilizing and would grow by 1 to 2 percent in the next 12 months.

According to Saeed Laylaz, a former economic adviser to reformist President Mohammad Khatami, last year’s election of Rouhani “saved Iran’s economic system from collapse.”

Domestic opponents of Rouhani’s policies—some of whom formed a group called “the anxious” earlier this year—have tried to paint the nuclear talks as having weakened Iran’s strategic independence. — AFP