The foreign minister said Iran and the major powers which are in talks to settle a 12-year dispute over Tehran's nuclear program have reached solutions to all issues and are now working to include them in the draft text of a possible nuclear deal.

"We have reached solutions to all questions and we are currently at the stage of compiling and writing the solutions," Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by IRNA as telling the Lebanese television al-Manar on Friday.

He was responding to a question on how optimistic he is that the nuclear negotiations with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) will produce favorable results by the self-imposed end-June deadline.

Expressing hope that all parties to the talks will remain committed to the provisions of the Lausanne agreement, he said, "The increasing demands by some parties and their attempts to raise new issues can hinder our progress in the negotiations."

Iran and its negotiating partners reached an initial agreement on April 2 in the Swiss city of Lausanne. Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi sat down separately with their European, Chinese and Russian counterparts to start a fresh round of talks in Vienna on Thursday with the aim of drafting the text of the final accord.

The deputies also held talks with their US counterpart on Friday parallel to expert-level meetings between Iran and the P5+1.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow hopes that the two sides could reach consensus on the issue of sanctions during the current round.

"We expect to use (this) round to put the record straight (on the sanctions issue), because it is one of the main ingredients (of the deal)," Ryabkov was quoted by Sputnik as telling reporters in Vienna on Tuesday, adding, "We need to methodically complete the harmonization of the text. A lot of work has been done at expert level, the volume of the text worked out has significantly increased during the previous two weeks."

Elsewhere, Ryabkov said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will receive limited regulated access to Iran's military centers.

"The IAEA will have regulated access (to Iranian military facilities, but) the volume of the access, and what kind of procedures have to be implemented in this respect, is still being debated. It is one of those subjects on which experts and political directors are currently working."

"(Military facilities) require a special mode of access," he added.

Speaking on the issue to reporters upon arrival in Vienna on Thursday, Araqchi said, "Even if the Additional Protocol is agreed to be implemented as part of the final deal, the access (to military sites) given to IAEA inspectors will be a managed one."

Iran has ruled out inspections of its nuclear sites under any nuclear accord.

By Financial Tribune