DHAKA: Iran and six world powers are close to signing a historic nuclear deal that will bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s atomic program.

Officials say, Al Jazeera publishes this report on Monday.

After more than two weeks of negotiations in Vienna, Iranian and Western officials said on Sunday that an agreement could be ready on Monday, the self-imposed deadline for clinching the deal, though that could be extended again.

‘We still have got work to do tomorrow,’ Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on Sunday from his hotel balcony. ‘No deal today (Sunday).’

US Secretary of State John Kerry has cautioned that ‘major issues’ remain to be resolved, and comments from both senior Republican and Democrat Senators on Sunday suggested that any final deal would also face tough scrutiny in the US Congress.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian delegation, said on Twitter that the draft agreement Iran and the powers - the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China - were working on was ‘a 100-page document’.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday further measures were still needed to overcome the remaining obstacles in the Vienna negotiations, ISNA news agency reported.

‘It might seem we have reached the top of the mountain. But no, there are still steps needed to be taken,’ ISNA quoted him as saying. ‘Even if we fail ... we have performed our duty.’

A senior Iranian official said 99 percent of the issues had been resolved, adding, ‘With political will we can finish the work late tonight and announce it tomorrow’.

BDST: 1204 HRS, JULY 13, 2015
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