VIENNA -- World powers and Iran have drawn up a draft document on the pace and timing of sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, advancing on one of the most contentious issues at their negotiations, diplomats told reporters on Saturday.
Written by technical experts, the document still must be approved by the foreign ministers of all negotiating partners. While Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, were meeting in Vienna on Saturday, other ministers are expected to return today in hopes of meeting a Tuesday deadline. The United States leads a six-member negotiating group that includes the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany.
Each element of a potential agreement is being first hammered out by teams of experts before discussions on a political level.
"Even if and when issues get resolved at an experts level, there will remain some open issues that can only be decided by ministers," a senior U.S. official said. Some key decisions will also have to be sent back to capitals for final approval, another U.S. official said.
"We are trying to narrow the number of issues that have to be dealt with by ministers as far as we possibly can," the second official said. "There are literally hundreds of small decisions that have to be made in the context of negotiating agreement like this," some of which have already been approved at the highest levels. U.S. and other officials discussed the closed-door negotiations on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. and much of the world fears Iran's enrichment of uranium and other activity could be designed to make nuclear weapons; Iran says its program is meant only to generate power and for other peaceful purposes.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on this past week's confidential negotiations, said the sanctions annex was completed by experts from Iran and the six world powers.
A senior U.S. official did not dispute the diplomats' account but said work remained to be done on "Annex II" before the issue could be described as finalized. And beyond a political agreement that was still in the draft stage, details also needed to be finalized on tough issues contained in four other appendices.
They include inspection guidelines, rules governing Iran's research and development of advanced nuclear technology, and the nuts and bolts of reducing the size and output of Iran's uranium enrichment program.
As part of a deal, President Barack Obama's administration also wants Iran to cooperate fully with the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency's investigation of allegations that Tehran worked secretly on nuclear arms -- something Iran vehemently denies.
Agency chief Yukiya Amano told reporters Saturday that "more work will be needed" to advance the probe, in a statement similar to previous ones from his agency.
"Once an agreement on the joint comprehensive plan of action" is reached, he said, "the IAEA is ready to implement the nuclear-related elements when requested."
While saying he could wrap up his investigation by the end of the year, Amano said he needs Tehran's cooperation to do so. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said after Thursday's meeting in Tehran with Amano that the agency now understands that the "pointless allegations" are "baseless."
Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have made repeated demands for economic penalties to be lifted shortly after a deal is reached. Washington and its partners have said they'd take action after Iran verifiably complies with restrictions on enrichment and other elements of the nuclear program.
Kerry spent most of Saturday outside the negotiating room in talks with members of the U.S. team, officials said. Kerry and Zarif had an "impromptu discussion" Saturday afternoon at the Coburg Palace Hotel where the talks are going on, and scheduled an additional, early evening session with Zarif.
Separately, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz held more than three hours of talks with Ali-Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. They were joined by U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Iranian Foreign Ministry deputies Abbass Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, along with European Union deputy foreign policy adviser Helga Schmid.
Information for this article was contributed by George Jahn, Bradley Klapper and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press and by Karen DeYoung and Carol Morello of The Washington Post.
A Section on 07/05/2015