Iran's Deputy FM: Sextet Should Take Tough Decision in Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The time has come for the world powers to make a tough decision on Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said.
“If they are supposed to make a tough decision, this is the right time, and this is doable if they are really open to negotiation,” Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for American and European Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi said in an interview with state TV on Tuesday.
The diplomat, who is also a member of the Iranian team of nuclear negotiators engaged in talks with six world powers, warned against the ongoing attempts to ruin the talks.
Takht Ravanchi also reiterated that the entire anti-Iran sanctions should be lifted at once in the wake of a final, comprehensive nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Iran will never agree that the sanctions would be divided into separate categories or be removed one by one, he underlined.
He further noted that a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear case would be possible before a November 24 deadline, provided that “the Westerners would be really after resolving the problem.”
The senior diplomat also dismissed the idea of extension of the nuclear talks, and said, “We do not think about extending the negotiations and try to achieve our favorable result in the definite time span.”
In relevant comments on Monday, IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian nuclear negotiator as dismissing a report by the Los Angeles Times about the possibility of an extension of the talks.
“The paper’s report is not true and the extension of the negotiations is not on the agenda. All the attention is focused on the serious continuation of the negotiations until November 24,” the official had announced.
Iran and the six powers are in talks to iron out differences and secure an agreement that would end the West’s 12-year-old standoff on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the G5+1 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.