Iran deal to be discussed on sidelines of UN anti-nuclear arms conference

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet US Secretary of State John Kerry at the opening of a UN conference on the global anti-nuclear weapons treaty on Monday, as they try to make progress in talks on a long-term atomic deal.

 

Iran’s top diplomat will be the first state party to the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to address its 190 signatories at the United Nations headquarters in New York on behalf of 118 non-aligned nations that have signed the NPT, the world’s benchmark disarmament pact.

 

Zarif and Kerry will meet on the sidelines to discuss negotiations on a landmark nuclear deal with the United States and five other global powers as they try to secure a final agreement with Iran by a June 30 deadline.

 

In a tentative deal reached on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland, between Iran and the six powers, Tehran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, agreed to curb sensitive nuclear work for at least a decade in exchange for ending sanctions that have crippled its economy.

 

Diplomats need to iron out details about the timing of sanctions relief, the future of Iran’s atomic research and development program, the exact nature of the IAEA’s monitoring regime and what kind of uranium stockpiles Tehran will be allowed to keep under any final accord.

 

Read More: Iran deal to be discussed on sidelines of UN anti-nuclear arms conference – International – Jerusalem Post