Agencies, Lausanne :Nuclear talks between Iran and its negotiating partners have made “significant progress”, but there is no “final result yet”, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said.The six powers – including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China – “have to examine among themselves the results of the negotiations,” Zarif said during a break on Thursday. “We don’t know yet the result of those discussions.””This should happen this morning,” he said. “If these solutions are approved, it is expected that there will be a joint declaration made by me and Mrs [Federica] Mogherini”, the EU foreign policy chief, Zarif added.”There will be a statement to the press which should be announced but the text still has to be worked on.”The talks are aimed at agreeing the outlines of a major deal to be finalised by June 30 to ease concerns that Iran might develop nuclear weapons under the guise of civilian programme, an aim it denies. Tehran wants to lift international sanctions that have crippled its economy, while preserving what it views as its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.Domestic pressuresAll sides are under pressure not to go home empty handed, but Washington reiterated on Wednesday that it was willing to walk away if the sides could not agree on a preliminary framework. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington: “The time has come for Iran to make some decisions.”There were also signs that President Barack Obama, whose administration was behind the end-March interim deadline that was criticised by the French and others as an artificial one, was coming under renewed pressure from US Republican party leaders to walk away from the negotiations.The negotiations have become bogged down over crucial details of the accord, even as the broad outlines of an agreement have been reached.Negotiators met until 6:00 in the morning (0400 GMT) on Thursday in the Swiss city of Lausanne, breaking off for three hours to rest.Ministers and experts shuffled from meeting to meeting overnight as talks entered their eighth day.US Secretary of State John Kerry held meetings throughout the night with his Iranian, German and French counterparts, and European Union negotiator Helga Schmid.Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said they would stay at least until Thursday in an effort to seal the agreement, a milestone towards a final pact due by the end of June. A German delegation source said Steinmeier would delay a trip to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.Zarif said that the “real task” of hammering out this highly technical and complex final accord in the next three months will be a “difficult and immense task”.
