As the time for a meeting between the United States and Iran closes in, a U.S diplomat expressed the fact that though negotiations will be complex, it will assure the security of not only the United States, but that of the whole world concerning Iran’s nuclear program. “These next days will be the beginning of what will be a complicated, difficult and lengthy process,” the senior U.S. Administration official told journalists Monday night. “When the stakes are this high, the devil truly is in the details. It can’t be done in a day, a week, or a month.”

The negotiations are not expected to be over very quickly and not at all in everyone’s interests. The senior official stated that he did not expect the negotiations to be over for more than six months. The official also noted that in President Barack Obama’s personal opinion, the deal only would only be fifty/fifty in favor of both countries.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif kicked off this round of talks with a dinner of Iranian kebabs and rice at the Iranian mission in Vienna Monday night. The formal meeting was due to get underway at a plenary session on Tuesday, February  18^th by 11 AM at the United Nations in Vienna, and to be attended by Zarif, Ashton, and the political directors from six world powers. An afternoon session will be led by the Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and Helga Schmid. This round of talks is currently scheduled to go until Thursday.

Procedural issues (how to structure the agenda and schedule a roadmap for negotiating a comprehensive accord) will be discussed this round, as well as substantive issues, the U.S. official said.

“How the talks will progress, the timing, how much at the expert level and political director level and foreign minister level,” the official said. “Substantively, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. It’s tempting to hone in on one or two issues. But all of the issues must be addressed for us to get a comprehensive deal” completed.

The U.S. official said that the United States and Iran have not had unannounced bilateral meetings going into the final deal talks, as they did last fall to try to advance an interim deal that was reached in Geneva November 24th. But she acknowledged that U.S. and Iranian officials have been in email contact as needed to iron out the details for various measures in the six month deal known as the Joint Plan of Action, under which Iran halted its 20% enrichment, among other measures, in exchange for limited sanctions relief.

The U.S. official also said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is now having daily access to Iran’s Natanz and Fordo enrichment facilities. The IAEA is providing monthly reports to the P5+1 on it’s verification and monitoring of the steps Iran has agreed to take in the Joint Plan of Action, and Iran to date has done what it committed to, she said. The P5+1 have likewise carried out the sanctions relief specified in the six-month deal.