Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 22
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran will not accept any "incomplete, vague" deal with the P5+1 over the country's nuclear program.
"No other deal will be reached before achieving a complete agreement," Zarif said, Iran's Mehr news agency reported Feb. 22.
He also emphasized that the nuclear negotiating team is following the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei's guidelines about a one stage deal.
"Neither Iran, nor other party would benefit small, separate and permanent agreements," Zarif said.
Khamenei said on Feb. 8 that he doesn't agree with a two-stage accord on the Islamic Republic's nuclear case.
"If an agreement is reached, it should include both the generalities and details in one stage," Khamenei explained.
This is while the US Secretary of State John Kerry said US President Barack Obama had "no inclination whatsoever" to extend the talks facing a March 31 deadline for agreement on a political framework for the deal.
Iran and the P5+1 (the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany) extended their talks to reach a comprehensive nuclear deal, with the aim of reaching a high-level political agreement by March 31, and confirming the full technical details of the agreement by July 1.
After the sides failed to meet the Nov. 24, 2014 deadline they also extended the Geneva nuclear deal, which was signed in November 2013 to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities.
Zarif also referred to the remaining gaps in the negotiations saying differences are mainly "mental."
Some western countries, especially the US and some factions in this country consider sanctions as advantage for them in achieving their goals, Zarif said, adding that however, with these sanctions they have only harmed themselves.
While answering a question about presence of Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in the negotiations Zarif said that the negotiations have reached a stage that presence of Salehi, who is fully involved in the country's nuclear issues was necessary.
He also touched upon participating of Hossein Fereydoun, the younger brother of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in the nuclear talks and said his presence is needed for coordination with president and the Islamic Republic's senior officials
Iran and the US have started a fresh round of talks in Geneva to narrow remaining gaps ahead of the March 31 deadline for political agreement.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi and US under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman held over 5 hours of talks on Feb. 20.
On Feb. 21 Ali Akbar Salehi held talks with the US energy secretary Ernest Moniz at the second day of the negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.
Mohammad Javad Zarif and his US counterpart John Kerry are scheduled to join the talks on Feb. 22 and hold discussions for two days.
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