Dawn.com, Washington :
Iran and the six world powers are “days away” from implementing a deal they signed last year to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear bomb, says US Secretary of State John Kerry.
“We are days away from implementation if all goes well,” Mr Kerry said at a press briefing at the State Department on Thursday afternoon.
He said he had spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier in the day and was now confident that the implementation of the landmark deal, signed in July, could come “sooner rather than later”.
Mr Zarif “made it clear to me they intend to complete their obligations with respect to implementation day as rapidly as possible, and we are currently engaged ourselves in making certain that we’re prepared to move on that day”, he said.
“Implementation Day”, is a day designated in the nuclear agreement, although no particular date has been fixed. On the day, the UN, European Union and the US will all lift certain nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
US secretary says agreement cannot be derailed now
Officials in Washington believe that the deal, once implemented, would help rebuild US-Iran relations. The United States broke diplomatic ties with Iran in 1979, after the hostage crisis.
But on Friday, the Republican-dominated House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up a bill that would restrict the administration’s ability to ease sanctions on Iranian banks.
Ranking Democrat on the committee, Congressman Eliot Engel, however, said the bill had no chance of becoming law: “We know that if it passes both Houses the president will veto it.”
But the committee’s Republican chairman Ed Royce said the new legislation was an attempt to hold Iran to its commitments.
Secretary Kerry said the nuclear accord already had delivered significant results and could not be derailed now.
Iran and the six world powers are “days away” from implementing a deal they signed last year to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear bomb, says US Secretary of State John Kerry.
“We are days away from implementation if all goes well,” Mr Kerry said at a press briefing at the State Department on Thursday afternoon.
He said he had spoken with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier in the day and was now confident that the implementation of the landmark deal, signed in July, could come “sooner rather than later”.
Mr Zarif “made it clear to me they intend to complete their obligations with respect to implementation day as rapidly as possible, and we are currently engaged ourselves in making certain that we’re prepared to move on that day”, he said.
“Implementation Day”, is a day designated in the nuclear agreement, although no particular date has been fixed. On the day, the UN, European Union and the US will all lift certain nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
US secretary says agreement cannot be derailed now
Officials in Washington believe that the deal, once implemented, would help rebuild US-Iran relations. The United States broke diplomatic ties with Iran in 1979, after the hostage crisis.
But on Friday, the Republican-dominated House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up a bill that would restrict the administration’s ability to ease sanctions on Iranian banks.
Ranking Democrat on the committee, Congressman Eliot Engel, however, said the bill had no chance of becoming law: “We know that if it passes both Houses the president will veto it.”
But the committee’s Republican chairman Ed Royce said the new legislation was an attempt to hold Iran to its commitments.
Secretary Kerry said the nuclear accord already had delivered significant results and could not be derailed now.
