MOSCOW, December 8 (Sputnik) – US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed hope that the Iranian nuclear deal could be reached before the negotiation deadline set for July 2015.
"Though it said seven months, we're not looking at seven months. I think the target is three, four months and hopefully even sooner if that is possible," Kerry said addressing Brookings Institution's 2014 Saban Forum on Sunday.
The US Secretary of State also said that a negotiated settlement was to exclude the possibility of Iran potentially developing a nuclear weapon. Kerry stressed that the signs of flexibility which Iran started to demonstrate in recent weeks could lead to progress on previously “intractable” issues.
In November, during the meeting of the P5+1 Group of international mediators discussing the Iranian nuclear program in Vienna, the parties failed to reach a comprehensive settlement before the self-imposed deadline set for November 24, and decided to extend it for another seven months.
Tehran has seen several rounds of sanctions imposed by the West over its uranium enrichment program. Although Iran claims that its program has purely peaceful purposes, such as meeting the country’s growing demand for electricity, Western countries suspect it of developing nuclear weapons.
The P5+1 Group includes Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China and Germany.
