Politics
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday a nuclear deal with the West was bound to happen and he believed it could be achieved by a November 24 deadline. Reuters reports:
"We have reached consensus on generalities and there are only the fine details to be worked out: whether we would reach an agreement within the next 40 days, if the time will be extended, etc.," the president told his people in a late evening address broadcast live on television.
"Of course details are important too, but what's important is that the nuclear issue is irreversible. I think a final settlement can be achieved in these remaining 40 days. We will not return to the situation a year ago. The world is tired and wants it to end, resolved through negotiations," he said.
"A nuclear settlement is certain," he said, vowing to "apply all our efforts in that direction."
Rouhani, a moderate elected by a landslide 14 months ago partly on promises to end hostilities with the West, cautioned nevertheless that "a 12-year-old dilemma cannot be resolved overnight."
Top diplomats of the United States, Iran and the European Union will meet for another round of talks in Vienna later this week to push for an elusive deal ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline.
The mid-November deadline to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear programme is fast approaching, and the negotiations between world powers and Tehran have been long and complex. The BBC writes:
In some areas there has been progress. In others - like the crucial question of constraining Iran's capacity to move swiftly towards a nuclear bomb - the various parties are still far apart. When these talks began it looked as though divisions over Iran - its past nuclear activities and future ambitions - threatened a major crisis in the Middle East.
There was talk of potential Israeli military action against Iran in an effort to cripple its nuclear programme.
Even the US itself refused to take the military option off the table. Seeking a negotiated deal was seen as the alternative to potential catastrophe.
