Nuclear Issue in Final Stage: Iran’s Diplomat
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian diplomat involved in the negotiations with six world powers over Tehran's peaceful nuclear program said on Thursday that the nuclear issue is in the final stage.
“After the recent talks with the US and the European Union in Geneva on the latest issues related to the termination of (anti-Iran) sanctions, we have now arrived at the final station,” Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Director General for the Political and International Affairs Hamid Baeidinejad said in a post on his social network account.
The final talks started on Wednesday, Baeidinejad said, expressing the hope that the remaining outstanding issues on the country’s nuclear energy program will be dealt with by Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany) today.
This is the last stage on the long path of Iran’s negotiations with the world powers on its nuclear program, and the day for implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the text of nuclear deal finalized back in July 2015, is looming, he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi predicted that implementation of a July nuclear deal between Tehran and the Sextet would start by Saturday, after the UN nuclear agency releases its final report.
“The (International Atomic Energy) Agency’s inspectors are supposed to issue their final report on Iran’s honoring of commitments until Friday. I believe the parties will perform their undertakings by Friday and Saturday and (then) the implementation day would be announced,” Araqchi said at the time.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as E3+3 and P5+1) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion on a 159-page nuclear agreement that would terminate all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program after coming into force.
Afterwards, the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.
According to the UNSC Resolution 2231, all previous UNSC sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program will be terminated when the JCPOA takes effect.