No Progress, No Setback in Oman Talks: Iran’s Nuclear Negotiator
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A top Iranian negotiator said there has been neither progress nor setback in the negotiations in Oman as Iran, the US, and the EU wrapped up a two-day round of intensive trilateral meetings on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton ended two days of high-profile talks in Muscat on monday after holding four rounds of discussions.
The negotiations focused on the main differences in the course of securing a comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Speaking to reporters in the Omani capital after conclusion of the trilateral talks on Monday evening, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said the talks “have innumerable dimensions”.
“After hours of discussions, we are not still in a position to say whether we have made a progress, nor are we in the position to say there has been a setback,” Araqchi said.
He said the talks will continue in all aspects, adding, “Every subject being mooted, entails lateral issues and complications like the technical, legal and political issues.”
The diplomat noted that the Oman talks were held “very directly, close and operational with an eye to the goal, namely the final agreement” on Iran’s peaceful nuclear case.
The whole negotiating parties are serious, Araqchi added, saying they are resolved to continue the talks as much as needed before a November 24 deadline.
According to the negotiator, deputies foreign minister representing the Group 5+1 and Iran will also hold talks in Muscat on Tuesday.
“We will keep making our efforts and the positive point is that the whole sides have seriousness and the demand to reach the deal is serious for the entire parties,” he explained.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the G5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The Geneva deal (the Joint Plan of Action) came into effect in January and expired in July, when the parties decided to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final, comprehensive deal that would end a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
