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 Over the past two weeks, Iran, the United States, Britain, France,
Germany, Russia and China have twice extended a deadline for
completing a long-term deal under which Tehran would curb sensitive
nuclear activities for more than a decade in exchange for sanctions
relief.
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Iranian nuclear chief Ali
Akbar Salehi were meeting on Thursday morning.
Salehi told reporters, "Hopefully today is the last day.” Moniz
added: “We're going to resolve the last issues, if we can.”
The latest extension of the talks to Friday left open the
possibility an agreement would not arrive in time to secure a 30-day
review period by the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress.
If a deal is sent to Congress after July 9 - Thursday - the period
grows to 60 days, increasing the chance that the deal could unravel.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif have been meeting daily for two weeks to
overcome the last remaining obstacles to a deal. French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius and his British and German counterparts have
also rejoined the negotiations.
 The White House said President Barack Obama and his national
security team held a video conference on Wednesday with Kerry, Moniz
and the U.S. negotiating team in Vienna.
"The President reviewed the progress of negotiations to date, and
provided guidance related to our ongoing efforts to achieve a good
deal between the P5+1 and Iran that meets our requirements," the
White House said in a statement.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the main text of
the agreement, as well as five technical annexes, were "around 96
percent complete." While the lifting of sanctions was largely
agreed, Araqchi said Tehran's demand for an end to the U.N. Security
Council arms embargo was among the most contentious unresolved
points.
Tehran has powerful support on this issue from Russia, one of the
six nations negotiating with Iran - Britain, China, France, Germany,
Russia and the United States.
Speaking at a summit of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa - in Ufa, Russia, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said the United Nations arms embargo should be among
the first sanctions lifted if there is a nuclear deal.
"We are calling for lifting the embargo as soon as possible and we
will support the choices that Iran's negotiators make," Lavrov said.
MISSILE SALES
Earlier this week, a senior Western diplomat said that despite
Russia's and China's known opposition to the arms embargo and
sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program, they had decided not
to break ranks with the West on the issue.
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The United States and its European allies are determined to keep the
arms and missile sanctions in place in the event of a nuclear deal
with Iran. Tehran says the missile and arms restrictions are
unrelated to the nuclear talks and should therefore be terminated if
a nuclear agreement is struck.
Russia has become increasingly allergic to the idea of sanctions on
any nation since the United States and European Union began
sanctioning it for annexing Crimea from Ukraine. The West accuses
Moscow of supporting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, though
the Kremlin denies the charge.
There may also be commercial dimensions to Russia's support for Iran
on missiles and arms trade. Moscow and Tehran are interested in
finishing their deal on the sale to Iran of Russia's advanced S-300
missile system.
The Kremlin signed a decree in April lifting a self-imposed ban on
the delivery of the S-300s to Iran, though the missiles have yet to
be delivered.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was also attending the BRICS summit
and was expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Before his departure from Tehran on Wednesday, Rouhani was quoted by
the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying that, "Iran is
preparing itself for after the negotiations and after sanctions, in
which our relations with other countries ... will expand."
Western countries accuse Iran of seeking the capability to build
nuclear weapons, while Tehran says its program is peaceful.
A successful deal could be the biggest milestone in decades towards
easing hostility between Iran and the United States, foes since
Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.
It would also be a political success for both U.S. President Barack
Obama and Iran's pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani, both of whom
face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home.
(Additional reporting by John Irish and Arshad Mohammed and Shadia
Nasralla, writing by Louis Charbonneau; editing by Anna Willard)
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