One of Iran’s leaders on Sunday said that a nuclear deal with Iran would be possible if the United States does not listen to the “Zionist lobbies”.
“At present, settlement of issues needs political will. There are still differences over the method of removing the sanctions and we think that if the Americans refrain from being influenced and pressured by the Zionists, certain countries and radicals, all grounds will be prepared for a comprehensive and complete agreement and we have almost arrived at that point,” Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said, according to the Fars news agency.
He added that certain regional Arab states, the “Zionists” and some extremist political streams in the United States do not want the negotiations between his country and the West to produce results.
“At present, we think that we have reached very good points in the negotiations and we can say we have attained good agreements in most, if not all, technical areas,” Jahangiri said, adding that major technical issues have been settled.
Talks between and Iran and the six world powers, collectively known as the P5+1, resumed on Sunday with the goal of turning an interim 2013 deal into a permanent agreement.
Under the interim deal, Iran committed to limit its uranium enrichment to five percent and is gradually winning access to $4.2 billion of its oil revenues frozen abroad and some other sanctions relief.
Talks to reach a permanent deal have continuously stalled and two deadlines for a final deal have been missed with an end of March deadline looming.
The comments from Jahangiry come as no surprise, as Iran has previously claimed that the failed negotiations are the fault of “pressure from the Zionists.”
On Friday, a senior European diplomat said that while nuclear talks between Western powers and Iran have made progress, some very difficult issues remain.
Secretary of State John Kerry estimated on Saturday that it is possible to reach an interim deal with Iran “in the next days” if Tehran can show that its nuclear power program is for peaceful purposes only.
