Iran Hails Expert Nuclear Talks with World Powers as "Fruitful"
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of the Iranian team of nuclear experts described the most recent round of talks with delegations from the six world powers as “serious” and helpful in settling differences on certain issues.
“The talks were serious, intensive and explicit,” Hamid Baeedinejad, the director general for political and international affairs at Iran’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
The talks, which began in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Wednesday with the aim of bridging the gaps in the way of a final comprehensive agreement, were co-chaired by Baeedinejad and Stephen Clement, an aide to the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
“The delegations believed that the views discussed during the talks were effective and useful for finding final solutions to some of the under negotiation issues ,” the Iranian diplomat explained.
On Wednesday, the parties had held eight hours of talks to discuss the differences as well as the plans proposed in the meeting of political directors.
The significant gaps in the talks appear to be the size and scope of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity, the way of removing anti-Iran sanctions and duration of a final agreement.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Based on the interim deal, the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran’s decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities.
In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal.