The negotiations between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries are entering in a crucial stage, if the deadline of July 20 is taken into account. There are different important issues not yet solved and it seems that they looks somehow difficult to find a way to overcome these difficulties, particularly the impasse over the size of Iran's program for producing nuclear fuel. When negotiators last met, on June 20, a large gap remained over the enrichment issue.

Iran says it needs to produce fuel for a nuclear power plant built by Russia and other nuclear power plants it plans to build in the future. One proposal under consideration is the reduction of Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium to satisfy its current needs. However, the country should be allowed to increase its enrichment program as it builds more nuclear power plants in the future. Another recent proposal, would allow Iran to update its centrifuges with more efficient ones, and allow it to continue to enrich uranium at current levels until it needs more to fuel its reactors. That proposal would rely on strict international monitoring to ensure the world that Iran sticks to its pledge to keep the program peaceful. 

The other outstanding issue is the entry into operation of the Arak nuclear research reactor. This reactor is intended to replace the life-expired 1967 Tehran Nuclear Research Center research reactor, mainly involved in the production of radioisotopes for medical and agricultural purposes, but the reactor can produced plutonium an important component of a nuclear bomb.

What should be clear to all parties involved in the negotiations is that Iran should respect its commitments and obligations as state party of the NPT and the P5+1 countries cannot ask Iran to assume obligations that are not included in the NPT and that any other countries have been taken.

The latest new on this important issue:

Final push in historic Iran nuclear talks

Vienna (AFP) July 02, 2014 - The United States and Iran traded barbs on Wednesday as negotiators arrived in Vienna for a marathon final round of nuclear talks aimed at securing a historic deal by a July 20 deadline..

A sixth and final round of talks starts officially on Thursday and could potentially last until July 20 when an interim deal struck in November expires, although in theory this can be extended for six months.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, writing in the Washington Post, said that the negotiations constituted "a choice for Iran's leaders". "They can agree to the steps necessary to assure the world that their country's nuclear program will be exclusively peaceful and not be used to build a weapon", Kerry wrote. Or "they can squander a historic opportunity to end Iran's economic and diplomatic isolation and improve the lives of their people." The P5+1 powers  have proposed a "series of reasonable, verifiable and easily achievable measures that would ensure Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon and that its program is limited to peaceful purpose," he said.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, writing in French daily Le Monde, said that some among the P5+1 were suffering from "illusions" about Iran's nuclear programme. He said that contrary to fears in the West, Iran -- even if it wanted to -- is "several years, not a few months" away from being able to build an atomic bomb. Iran "will not abandon or give up its technological or scientific advances. In addition it would not be prudent ... to expect us to do otherwise," Zarif said in remarks printed in French. "I appeal for these illusions not to derail a process that could put an end to a pointless crisis," he said.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Majid Takhte Ravanchi went further, telling the ISNA news agency that Iran has set out clear "red lines" in the talks. "The other side knows that these red lines cannot be crossed. If we reach a deal it will be one respecting these red lines. If not there will be no accord," he said. "The outcome depends on the other side. If they have a maximalist position, or if they want to address issues that have nothing to do with the talks, if they are far from reality or if they have illusions, there will be no deal," he said. "We will not accept definitive restrictions" on our nuclear programme, he said.

But Kelsey Davenport, Arms Control Association analyst, was upbeat about prospects for a deal, saying there is "considerable political will" and that an accord is in the interests of both sides. "There is a lot of time left for diplomacy and a good comprehensive nuclear agreement is within reach, despite significant gaps between the two sides on core issues," she told AFP.

Iran nuclear talks enter the decisive, dangerous endgame Thursday with a marathon final round of hardball negotiations potentially going all the way to the July 20 finish line.

The deal being sought by Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany would finally ease fears of Tehran getting nuclear weapons -- and silence talk of war for good.

"In the next three weeks, we have a unique opportunity to make history," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video message released ahead of the talks. "To forge a comprehensive agreement over Iran's nuclear energy programme and to end an unnecessary crisis that has distracted us from addressing together our common challenges, such as the horrifying events of the past few weeks in Iraq."

After five rounds of talks in Vienna seeking to secure a deal by July 20 -- when an interim deal struck in November expires -- the differences appear considerable, however. The last meeting from June 16-20 saw both sides begin drafting the accord, but haggling over language concerning the thorniest problems was put off until later. The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany want Iran to reduce drastically in scope its nuclear activities in order to render any Iranian drive to assemble a weapon all but impossible.

This would include in particular Iran slashing its capacities to enrich uranium, a process producing nuclear fuel but also at high purities the core of a nuclear weapon. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said last month Iran has to slash the number of centrifuge enrichment machines to several hundred from almost 20,000 at present. But Iran rejects this, saying it even needs to expand the number of centrifuges to fuel a fleet of nuclear power plants -- facilities that it is however years if not decades away from having.

Demands that Iran's programme be "radically curbed" rest on a "gross misrepresentation of the steps, time and dangers of a dash for the bomb", Zarif said. Writing in French daily Le Monde, Zarif said Iran "will not abandon or make a mockery of our technological advances or our scientists."

In theory, the July 20 deadline could be extended by up to six months, and many analysts believe that such a move is already being discussed. But US President Barack Obama, facing midterm elections in November and Republican accusations of weakness, is wary of doing anything that could be construed as simply giving Iran more time to get closer to having the bomb. This is the long-standing accusation of Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state. But Kelsey Davenport from the Arms Control Association believes that Washington should not shy away from pushing back the deadline if necessary and if Iran is "negotiating in good faith". "The alternative to no deal is far worse for the international community -- a constrained, unlimited Iranian nuclear programme," she told AFP.

 Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday his country and world powers have a "unique opportunity to make history" by agreeing on a nuclear deal, as talks enter a crucial final round. Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking as the five permanent members of the United Nations, plus Germany, prepare to sit down with Iran in Vienna Thursday in a bid to reach a historic deal by a July 20 deadline. The world powers want Iran to scale down its nuclear activities in order to ease long-held fears that Tehran might develop atomic weapons.

Iran, subject to damaging UN and Western sanctions, insists its nuclear programme is purely peaceful and even wants to expand key parts of it. Zarif said forging a deal would "end an unnecessary crisis that has distracted us from addressing together our common challenges, such as the horrifying events of past few weeks in Iraq." He claimed an agreement could have been reached in 2005 when he had been nuclear negotiator, but that the administration of then US president George W. Bush "torpedoed the deal". They then opted for pressure and sanctions. For eight years." But he said sanctions "didn't bring the Iranian people to kneel in submission. And it will not now nor in the future." "We are trying to reach a deal," he added. "Not a good deal or a bad deal, but a doable and lasting deal."

Without elaborating, Zarif said "we are willing to take concrete measures to guarantee that our nuclear programme will always remain peaceful. "We still have time to put an end to the myth that Iran is seeking to build a bomb."