Deputy FM Describes Iran-Sextet N. Talks as “Serious, Fruitful”
VIENNA (Tasnim) - Iranian deputy foreign minister and one of the country’s senior negotiators, Seyed Abbas Araqchi, said Iran and the Group 5+1 --Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany-- have held fruitful and quite serious discussions in the first day of nuclear talks on Tuesday.
“The discussions we held today were fruitful, and appropriate in some parts. The discussions are completely serious, having its typical complications,” Araqchi told Iranian reporters in a press conference on Tuesday night, here in Vienna.
The fresh round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six major world powers started on Tuesday morning, while the negotiating parties are geared up to resume their talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program for the second day in a row on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in his comments, Araqchi underlined that the two sides are engaged in inclusive discussions “in order to narrow the divisions and get prepared for the next round of negotiations.”
On Wednesday, he noted, we will discuss the topics in general, and in the next round of talks --slated for May-- we will work them out in detail.
He added that the negotiating parties will attend a “joint commission at the level of deputies” at the conclusion of the talks on Wednesday evening in a bid to “review the implementation of the Geneva deal”.
Iran and the G5+1 (alternatively known as P5+1 or E3+3) have on November 24, 2013, clinched an interim six-month deal on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The breakthrough deal (the Joint Plan of Action), which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
As regards the venue and date for the next round of talks, Araqchi announced that the sides will once again convene in the Austrian capital in mid-May, but refused to give more details about a precise date.
The Iranian negotiator went on to say that one of the main objectives in the course of talks is to allay concerns about the peaceful nature of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
He once again emphasized that the Geneva deal has entitled Iran to continue its uranium enrichment program, adding that the negotiations only include the level and dimensions of enrichment activities.
Asked about the issue of inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites, Araqchi stressed that Tehran has no problem with the matter, since the country’s nuclear activities are purely peaceful and comply with the international regulations.
“We have no covert (nuclear) program,” he underscored, but added that Tehran is concerned about the possible abuse of inspections, because certain sides could pursue other objectives under the pretext of monitoring Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities.
“We must make sure that any kind of surveillance would take place within the framework of the legal bases, and that firstly there will be logical reasons for that, and secondly there will be no misuse (of the issue),” Araqchi explained.
