Negotiators are closing in on a two- or three-page plan as the basis of a deal over Iran’s nuclear programs, officials told Reuters Saturday.
“The sides are very, very close to the final step and it could be signed or agreed and announced verbally,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
The primary goal of negotiators, the P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — was to establish a deal that would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting sanctions.
The U.S. considered this week allowing Iran to run centrifuges for purposes unrelated to uranium at Fordow, an underground facility near the holy city of Qom that was kept secret from inspectors until it was disclosed in 2009. Tehran would reduce its nuclear operations elsewhere in return.
Similarly, negotiators were watering down their demands for Iran to disclose its previous nuclear research, which included attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, to compromise with Tehran’s refusal to do so.
Experts were concerned that both actions could enable Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran could cheat on the agreement and develop an atomic bomb within a year — faster than the world could react.
Lawmakers plan to introduce legislation after the Passover-Easter recess that ends in mid-April that would require President Obama to seek congressional approval for any deal made with Iran.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations plans to mark up its version of the bill on April 14, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already promised a vote on it.
“We want to make sure that you show us the deal … that we understand how we’re going to have accountability, enforceability, and transparency,” Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the committee said on CNN Friday. “We want to know that those things are going to exist.”
Also, Israel started spying on the closed-door talks soon after negotiations began last year to get a head start on a case against the deal. Israel then shared the material with U.S. lawmakers.
Israel denied the allegations.
A letter circulated by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and signed by 46 Republican senators, including McConnell, reminding Iranian leaders that Congress or future presidents could modify or even revoke the nuclear deal was sent on March 9.
The original self-imposed deadline for a final agreement passed on March 24, and was extended to March 31. The previous arrangement would have expired on June 30.
