Iran�s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is opposed a two-stage agreement in the�ongoing nuclear negotiation with the US and EU representatives, rejecting a US daily claim to the contrary, said an Iranian source close to the negotiation team in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Reacting Thursday to a New York Times article, claiming that the Iranian foreign minister prefers a two-stage accord, the source said�Zarif has persistently rejected a two-phase agreement adding, �Mr. Zarif has steadily underlined inside and outside of the negotiations that Iran�s nuclear issue is a national and a non-partisan matter.�

In the article published Tuesday, the major US daily claimed, �Iran�s top negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, has made it clear to his Western counterparts that keeping hard-liners in the country in check ... is a delicate art. His fear is that a deal that details Iranian compromises could give them an opening to scuttle a final deal.�
Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (1st R), head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi (2nd-R), US Secretary of State John Kerry (1st L), US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (2nd L), and others at a meeting at Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne on March 26, 2015. (�AFP)
Zarif and his negotiating team had�continued their intense marathon talks with the American side in Lausanne the previous week when the top Iranian diplomat also took some time to meet one-on-one in the Belgian capital of Brussels with the European foreign ministers of the P5+1 group - Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, Philip Hammond of Britain and France�s Laurent Fabius. Zarif also sat down with EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, in Brussels.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and�Germany - have been in talks to resolve outstanding issues surrounding the Islamic Republic�s peaceful nuclear program.

By Press TV