Iran nuclear deal soon

The International Atomic Energy Agency will soon sign an accord with Iran aimed at trying to resolve disputes over its nuclear drive, the UN watchdog's chief Yukiya Amano said yesterday.
He made the announcement on his return to Vienna from a visit to Iran, and on the eve of talks between Tehran and world powers in Baghdad on the long-running crisis over the Islamic republic's atomic activities.
"A decision was made by me and Mr Jalili to reach an agreement on the structured approach," he said, referring to Iran's lead negotiator Saeed Jalili.
"At this stage, I can say it will be signed quite soon but I cannot say how soon it will be," he added, describing the agreement as an "important development".
Jalili said that the "existing differences will not be an obstacle to the agreement," Amano said, without elaborating.
He continued that the "important thing is I talked with policy makers, decision makers... directly and we understood each others' positions better. I think that is the reason why we could make this agreement."
Amano noted that he had discussed with Iranian authorities access to the Parchin military site, where the IAEA believes activity relevant to nuclear weapons development took place.
Iran says its nuclear programme, which has expanded in recent years, is for peaceful purposes, to generate electricity and provide medical isotopes, but many in the international community suspect the programme to be a front for a covert weapons drive.
The talks, set for tomorrow, are to be held between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany. The first round of talks was held in mid-April in Istanbul.
Meanwhile, the US Senate on Monday approved new sanctions against Iran aimed at convincing the Islamic Republic to suspend its uranium enrichment.
The bill allows President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on any country or company that enters joint ventures with Iran to develop its oil or uranium resource, or provides technology or resources to help Iran with such development.
It also includes measures against anyone who provides goods that "materially contribute to Iran's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program or its terrorism-related activities."
Iran can either "come to Baghdad with a real plan" to end its nuclear program "or we'll make our own plan -- through sanctions or other necessary measures -- to ensure that Iran fails to achieve its nuclear ambitions," said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, the bill's chief architect.
The bill must now be reconciled with sanctions approved by the US House of Representatives on December 14.
The legislation targets Iran's national oil and tanker firms, its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and would for the first time widen sanctions on Iran's energy sector to any joint venture anywhere in the world where Iran's government is a substantial partner or investor.