The French ambassador to the United States has said world powers and Iran will probably miss an end-of-June deadline for a comprehensive nuclear agreement.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington on May 26, Gerard Araud said it's "very likely" there will be no deal in the next five weeks.
Much technical work remains, he said, including on a key compromise emerging between the United States and Russia to allow a majority vote of the UN Security Council to decide whether sanctions should be reimposed on Iran if it violates the agreement.
The German ambassador to the United States, Peter Wittig, said sanctions relief for Iran would not take place before the end of this year under the best-case scenario.
Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany -- are negotiating an accord aimed at getting Iran to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
