Iran nuclear talks 'near the summit'

July 13, 2015 08:56

Iran and major world powers were today closer than ever to a historic nuclear deal on the eve of a new deadline set at marathon talks in Vienna.

"We have come a long way. We need to reach a peak and we're very close," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in Tehran.

"We are so close that if you look down from below you feel as if we have got there, but when you do get there you know there are still some steps to take," the Iranian news agency ISNA quoted him as saying.

"I hope we are finally entering the final phase of these marathon negotiations. I believe it," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who canceled a trip to Africa to stay at the talks.

Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Iranian media that "technical negotiations were de-facto completed".

One remaining task was to re-read the entire document, which spans 100 pages, an Iranian diplomat told AFP.

"Sometimes a country demands that we change a word, sparking several hours of discussions because the meaning can change completely," he said.

The talks seek to nail down a deal curbing Iran's nuclear activities to make it extremely difficult for Tehran -- which denies any such goal -- to develop the atomic bomb.

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