EXCLUSIVE: Iran Foreign Minister Confident Nuclear Deal Wrapped Up Soon

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http://breakingdefense.com/2013/11/exclusive-iran-foreign-minister-confident-nuke-agreement-wrapped-up-soon-iran-leaders-likely-to-approve/



EXCLUSIVE: Iran Foreign Minister Confident Nuclear Deal Wrapped Up Soon
By Michael Adler
on November 08, 2013 at 3:09 PM

GENEVA: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is confident an agreement to end the Iranian nuclear crisis will be reached soon and that he would be able to sell it back home in Tehran despite hardline opposition there, he told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview.

“I would not agree on something if I didn’t believe that I could keep it when I go back,” Zarif told me Friday, just ahead of talks that will involve US Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain.

“Of course whatever we create needs to be serious enough and solid enough to get the backing of our population. Otherwise it would become inherently unstable and untenable,” Zarif said. He said that he had to be “careful to prepare a … serious, solid document that takes care of all concerns of all sides.”

A previous agreement, a fuel swap agreed in Geneva in October 2009 , foundered when opponents to then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad torpedoed the deal once it had been brought back to Iran for final approval. Zarif is here negotiating on behalf of new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani who has the support of the real power in Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei. But the mandate from the Supreme Leader for striking a deal is believed to be short, perhaps only a few months as there is strong hardline opposition in Iran to compromising on the nuclear program under pressure from the United States.