Deputy FM Warns against Lack of Commitment to Geneva Deal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran remains pessimistic about the attitude of the negotiating sides that hold talks with Tehran over its nuclear program, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said, and noted that the Islamic Republic will retaliate if its interlocutors do not keep their side of the bargain.
“Whenever we feel that the other side does not fulfill its commitments and that it stops short of meeting its obligations… We will immediately return to the previous position and will stop the trend,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi said in a televised program on Saturday night.
His comments came a week after Iran and the G5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program after three rounds of intensive talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24.
The deal is intended to allow time to negotiate a comprehensive agreement on the nuclear program.
In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities and allow more inspection of its nuclear facilities, the six world powers have agreed to impose no new sanctions on Iran and to suspend some existing ones on its trade in petrochemicals, automobiles, gold and precious metals, civil aviation parts, and food and medicine. They will also let Tehran receive a small portion of its frozen assets while a permanent agreement is sought.
Araqchi also stressed that Iran does not trust the negotiating countries in nuclear talks, and added, “We are not optimistic about the other sides at all, we are even pessimistic.”
In relevant remarks on November 24, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed that if any new sanctions are imposed against Iran by the West, the nuclear accord will “end” in failure.
“If there are new sanctions, then there is no deal. It’s very clear. End of the deal. Because of the inability of one party to maintain their side of the bargain,” Zarif said in an interview with NBC News.
The top Iranian diplomat had also called on all negotiating parties in nuclear talks with Tehran to seize the opportunity brought by the landmark deal, and added the US has to restore the confidence of the Iranian nation.
“I think the West, particularly the US, needs to do a lot to at least partially restore confidence, the confidence of the Iranian people,” he noted.