Iranian FM: Comprehensive Nuclear Deal within Reach
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a final comprehensive deal on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program could be definitely struck if the parties show the required political determination.
“I am confident that a comprehensive agreement is imminently within reach. It requires foresight, political will and recognition of realities by our negotiating partners as well as the audacity to make the right choice,” Zarif said in a letter to a number of his counterparts from other countries, sent to explicate Iran’s approach to the nuclear talks with world powers.
The top Iranian diplomat has also made it clear that Tehran will continue to “resist and reject arbitrary, degrading and unlawful demands” in the course of talks.
Zarif said Iran is firmly determined to hammer out a “rational and fair agreement based on mutual respect and interest," noting that “creative and innovative” solutions have been offered by Tehran to that end.
Slamming certain parties for resorting to “counterproductive, illegal and inhuman instrument of coercion”, namely imposition of sanctions, the foreign minister said, “Lifting of all sanctions is an essential component of any agreement.”
“While Iran has shown its good faith by completely fulfilling its part of the bargain under the deal, the US and EU have adopted more measures to maintain and strengthen the sanctions regime than to live up to their sanction-easing commitments,” he added.
“Obsession with sanctions has not only obstructed a comprehensive long-term agreement, but also prevented the West from regaining the confidence of the Iranian people even after the adoption of JPOA (Joint Plan of Action),” the minister noted.
Iran and the G5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) in November last year signed an interim deal, known as the Geneva Agreement, on Tehran’s nuclear case.
Based on the interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action), the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.
The two sides wrapped up a week of intensive nuclear talks in Vienna on November 24 without reaching a long-awaited deal they were supposed to hammer out by the self-imposed November 24 deadline.
Negotiations between Iran and the sextet aim to hammer out a final agreement to end more than a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program.
Negotiators from Iran and the sextet concluded a round of deputy-level talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program in Switzerland’s Geneva on Wednesday.
The Swiss city will reportedly once again host the next round of talks before January 20, 2015.