Iran and world powers to announce partial nuclear agreement

Expected announcement: Enough progress has been made in nearly two years of negotiations to continue them until June 30.

By MICHAEL WILNER
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) and Head of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi talk while other members of their delegation listen after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and American officials at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) and Head of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi talk while other members of their delegation listen after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and American officials at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne
(photo credit: REUTERS)
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- World powers and Iran have reached agreement on a partial political framework deal, the European Union will announce on Thursday.
Preparing for the announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the parties had "found solutions" after eight days of marathon nuclear talks. The German Foreign Office said that negotiators had reached "agreement on a framework for a final agreement," while the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, declared "good news" on Twitter.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on twitter declared a "big day as world powers, Iran agree on "parameters to resolve major issues on its nuclear program."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also tweeted that said Solutions on the key parameters of the Iran nuclear case had been reached," and  drafting on the agreement would start immediately and be finished by June 30. 
An announcement is expected from the EU and Iran, followed by press statements from Zarif and Kerry.
They are expected to declare that enough progress has been made in nearly two years of negotiations to continue them until June 30, at which point they hope to seal a comprehensive nuclear accord.
Western officials said they were unsure just how much of an agreement would be made public. Before the announcement, Reuters reported that two-thirds of Iran's current enrichment capacity will be suspended and monitored for ten years under the agreement.
Diplomats from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany worked straight through a self-imposed deadline on Tuesday night in its talks with the Islamic Republic. Those powers, known formally as the P5+1, aim to cap, restrict, monitor and partially roll back Iran's nuclear work for a finite period.