PHOTO: European Union’s Federica Mogherini announces extension of talks on Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday

WEDNESDAY FEATURE

Analysis: What Happens After a Nuclear Deal? — Answering the Top Questions

UPDATE 1310 GMT: A Twitter site linked to Iran’s negotiators is putting out the story that Foreign Ministers will reconvene on Friday:

At the same time, the account — drawing on incidents earlier in the week — is portraying an angered Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif issuing warnings to the European Union’s Federica Mogherini and US Secretary of State John Kerry:

A photograph released by the account is an image of tension between Mogherini and Zarif:

According to State news agency IRNA, Zarif and Kerry had a shouting match on Monday night at the Palais Coburg, with a Kerry aide interrupting to say everyone outside could hear their argument.

“Seems like you had a constructive meeting last night; the whole hotel could hear you,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said when he met Zarif the next day, IRNA claimed.

On the same evening, Zarif and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Mogherini to lay off the “threats”, asserted Russian outlet RIA Novosti.

The EU official supposedly said that if Zarif did not want to reach a deal, the talks could end then and there. IRNA identified that official as Mogherini.

According to RIA, Zarif snapped back, “Never try to threaten the Iranians,” with Lavrov adding, “Nor the Russians.”

The Iranian Foreign Minister stepped back on Wednesday, said IRNA, by praising that Mogherini “has always had a very positive and constructive role in the negotiations”: “Our relationship has been government by mutual respect.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Iran and the 5+1 Powers have given themselves a “few days” to conclude a nuclear agreement, extending a July 7 deadline on Tuesday.

The deadline has been moved on several occasions, including a week-long extension on June 30 in the talks in Vienna. However, while both sides spoke of progress toward a resolution, they indicated on Tuesday that gaps remained in the detail on several issues.

Those issues include inspections of Iran’s nuclear and military sites; the timing of the removal of UN, European Union, and US sanctions and any provision for their re-imposition if the deal is violated; the status of the UN’s embargo on Iranian sales; and the UN Security Council procedures for further review of the Iranian case.

Announcing the extension, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said, “We knew it would be difficult, challenging, and sometimes hard. The last, difficult, political issues we have to solve.”

The Iranian delegation played down any talk of possible failure, with Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stating, “No deadline is sacred for us. We are ready to stay in Vienna to continue the talks even if [the deadline] is extended day by day.”

“There are several kinds of sanctions, most important of which are economic and financial sanctions, on which we have an agreement, on which we have already decided how to deal with economic and financial sanctions, they would all be lifted on the implementation day,” Abbas Araqchi told Press TV correspondent in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on Tuesday.

Araqchi indicated that agreement was nearing on the complicated timetable linking sanctions removal to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s verification of Iranian compliance with the deal: “The question of simultaneity is very important for us, measures by both sides should happen at same time and in the same manner….We think that some ideas and formulations that we have been able to innovate may work but we are still working on that.”

He continued:

The main text is almost complete, only a few paragraphs remain that require political decisions.

We have completed drafting as far as it was possible, and parts of the agreement and its annexes that are still between brackets are dependent upon decisions by ministers.

US spokeswoman Marie Harf echoed Araqchi’s assessment of gradual advance but also challenges to be overcome:

We are taking these negotiations day-to-day to see if we can conclude a comprehensive agreement. We’ve made substantial progress in every area, but this work is highly technical and high-stakes for all of the countries involved.

We’re frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won’t get any easier with time.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials put out other hopeful signals. President Rouhani offered support for Iran’s negotiators in a speech to university professors, “I am proud of the brave sons of the country in nuclear talks who will keep defending our nation’s rights until the end.”

The spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, pointed to a breakthrough in the arrangements for inspections, confirmed by IAEA head Yukiya Amano’s sudden visit to Tehran last week and a follow-up trip by IAEA technical experts.

Kamalvandi said the trips — which were preceded by a statement from US Secretary of State John Kerry that Washington would not press for a full account of Iran’s past nuclear activities — “indicated how serious the two sides…are in boosting the level of their cooperation”.

When the IAEA chief was in Tehran an agreement was made on outlines and good meetings were held….

Iran and the IAEA have taken major steps towards solving some remaining issues by reaching an agreement on principles about subjects and the timetable for joint cooperation.