Iran’s Nuclear Chief: Sun Will Soon Rise

(FNA)- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday that Tehran and the world powers are presently working on the technical aspects of the nuclear talks, and indicated that attainment of a final agreement is imminent.

"We are studying the technical issues and we are close to the sunrise," Salehi told reporters after days of marathon talks with negotiators from the six world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday.

He pointed to the trend of the nuclear negotiations, and said, "Thanks God, we are proceeding well."

On Friday, Salehi announced that Tehran and the world powers had developed a common understanding over a major part of the technical issues in their nuclear talks in Lausanne.

"We have reached a common understanding on a considerable section of the issues," Salehi told reporters after his meeting with US Secretary of Energy in the Swiss city of Lausanne, where a new round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) is underway.

Yet, he underlined that no agreement has been struck yet.

Salehi underlined that there are one or two technical issues that are still under discussion by Iran and the six world powers.

Salehi did not elaborate on the technical differences, and said, "We are trying to reach a common understanding; there are difficult issues which should be resolved."

But, Iran's deputy lead negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi said a few hours later that nuclear research and development as well as removal of sanctions are still the main bones of contention.