US Hopeful Of Agreement With Iran On Nuclear Issue By July 20

New York, June 17, IRNA – A senior official at the US Department of State has said that Washington has shown confidence of meeting a deadline of reaching an agreement with Iran in the latterˈs nuclear program, before expiration of the July 20 deadline. ˈThe negotiations have already intensified, as we said that they would, and they will continue to do so in the days and weeks leading up to July 20. I cannot imagine that between now and July 20, we will not in some form or fashion be meeting every single day in one way or another,ˈ a senior State Department official told reporters. This was made public as Iranian and US top diplomats along with other members of the P5+1 held a latest round of talks on the issue in Vienna on June 16. ˈOur focus is to make as much progress as possible, and of course to reach an agreement by the 20th of July,ˈ the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity. He added, ˈWe can get this done. It is possible to get it done. We should be focused on getting it. ˈSo right now we are entirely focused on July 20th…I think that itˈs most worthwhile for all of us to focus on the hard work necessary to get an agreement by July 20th…ˈ Senior negotiators of Iran, EU, and US held trilateral intensive talks for three hours on Monday focusing on the agenda of the talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 as well as beginning to draft a final agreement on Iranˈs nuclear program. The three parties discussed ways to remove disagreements and close their ranks before beginning to compile a comprehensive agreement text. Iranˈs Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and senior official at the US State Department William Burns attended the meeting which was held in the Swiss city./end