Baku, Azerbaijan, March 3
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran may extend nuclear talks with P5+1 for another six months, Iranian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi said, the country's ISNA news agency reported on March 3.
Najafi expressed hope on the results of the negotiations despite "some differences."
The official's remark came after a meeting held between Iran and the P5+1 in Vienna in February to work on a comprehensive deal. Iran and the P5+1 (Russia, China, France, Germany, UK and the US) signed an interim deal on Iran's nuclear energy program in Geneva on November 24, 2013. The deal took effect on January 20.
Under the agreement, six major powers agreed to give Iran access to its $4.2 billion in revenues blocked overseas, if the country fulfils the deal's terms, which offer sanctions relief in exchange for steps on curbing the Iranian nuclear program.
Iran and P5+1 aim to continue their talks to reach a final agreement to fully resolve the decade-old dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear energy program. The next round of negotiations will begin with a meeting between technical experts from the P5+1 and Iran on March 5.
This will also be followed by a meeting between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna on March 17.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical research instead.
Edited by C.N.