No Talk of Military Issues in Vienna Negotiations: Top Negotiator
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iranian foreign minister and the lead negotiator in nuclear talks between Tehran and the sextet of world powers once again asserted that the new round of negotiations in Vienna would neither include any talk of Iran’s military sites nor its missile program.
Speaking to reporters in the Austrian capital on Monday night, Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated that the talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, Britain, the US, China, France and Germany) will merely cover nuclear subjects.
Referring to any talk of Iran’s military sites or its missile capabilities as the country’s red line, Zarif stressed, “The topic of negotiations is Iran’s nuclear program alone. No other subject, including Iran’s military capability, will be mooted in the negotiations.”
The Iranian minister underlined that the only subject which Tehran and the world powers have earlier in Geneva agreed to discuss was that “Iran’s nuclear program would remain peaceful.”
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) signed a six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva after several rounds of tight negotiations.
“As Iran’s nuclear program has nothing to do with the military issues, the military issues have nothing to do with the nuclear program either,” Zarif underlined.
“What we will show the world is that our nuclear program is not military.”
The fresh round of negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 (also known as P5+1 and E3+3) are set to kick off officially in Vienna at 11 a.m. local time (1330 Tehran time), with a symbolic bilateral meeting between Zarif and the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who represents the six world powers in talks with Iran.
The new round of talks, which are expected to be tight, technical and complicated, are aimed at finding an ultimate, comprehensive deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
