Lavrov says agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme can be reached

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme could be reached. “I have to be realistic. Well, you know that an optimist, or rather a pessimist, is a well-informed optimist. So we prefer to be realistic, and realistically speaking, the deal on the Iranian nuclear programme is within reach,” Lavrov told France 24 TV Channel. “And certainly the timeframe, which was agreed again - the end of June next year - is chosen because in addition to the basic political framework agreement, which could be reached in a couple of months, there would be a need for very technical, very detailed annexes. That’s why June seems a realistic date, and I don’t think there would be any further extensions,” he said. “I said that the political deal to be reached will require a couple of months, not more, I am sure, I mean, given the political will on the part of all the participants, because the issues are very well established, and the gap in the approaches is not that big. But in addition to this framework deal, which is a political deal, there would have to be technical interpretation of several issues, which will require two or three more months,” Lavrov said. Read more