TEHRAN, Iran
Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's atomic energy chief, said Tuesday that Iran and the U.S. have agreed on the majority of technical issues over the course of talks on Iran's nuclear program.
"We agreed on 90 percent of the technical issues but there has only remained one very important issue of difference," Salehi said in an interview with Iranian state TV after meeting with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz in Lausanne, Switzerland. "We will try to solve this issue in the evening negotiations."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Moniz and Salehi attended the talks to limit Iran's nuclear program and eventually lift economic sanctions on the country.
The deadline for the nuclear deal to be finalized is June, but western powers hope for a political framework agreement to be established by the end of March.
The U.S., U.K., China, France and Russia -- plus Germany -- also known as the P5+1 group, have claimed Iran seeks to develop nuclear weapons and wants its nuclear program curbed in return for the lifting of sanctions, while Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes.
Earlier this month, 47 U.S. Republican senators sent an open letter to Iranian leaders saying that any nuclear deal between Obama and Tehran could be reversed once the U.S. president leaves office.
