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Iran deputy FM: Little progress made in technical talks with P5+1

Iran Materials 21 December 2013 23:27 (UTC +04:00)
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said the latest round of technical talks between Iran and the P5+1 have made little progress, the IRNA News Agency reported on December 21.
Iran deputy FM: Little progress made in technical talks with P5+1

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 21

By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said the latest round of technical talks between Iran and the P5+1 have made little progress, the IRNA News Agency reported on December 21.

Araqchi, also a nuclear negotiator, made the comments after the third day of the talks in Geneva.

The two sides will be holding a fourth day of expert-level talks in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the implementation of the nuclear deal struck last month.

Hamid Baeedi-nejad is leading the Iranian delegation which includes experts from nuclear, banking, oil and transportation sectors.

Iran and six world powers resumed expert-level talks in Geneva on Thursday to work out how to put into practice a landmark deal obliging Tehran to curb its nuclear program in return for some relief from economic sanctions.

The talks follow four days of similar discussions in Vienna last week.

Discussions on the implementation details of last month's breakthrough accord were interrupted by Tehran diplomats last week, after a decision by the United States to blacklist 19 more Iranian companies and individuals, Reuters reported.

Tehran says the added measures are at odds with a landmark deal reached in Geneva last month, based on which the West had promised not to slap new sanctions on Iran.
Tehran said it's ready to pick up the talks after the E-U Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton assured it that the P5+1 countries, especially the US, would continue the negotiations in goodwill.

Iran left the talks last week, however, diplomats said much progress had been achieved in the four-day meeting on December 9-12 in Vienna and expressed hope they could wrap up the practical discussions at meetings in Geneva on Thursday and Friday.

That could mean the seven countries - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and Iran - would be ready to agree on a date when the accord goes fully into effect.

Specifically, they would decide when western governments ease sanctions and how much prior verification of any Iranian curbs of its most sensitive nuclear work would be needed ahead of time.

Diplomats have said their target time frame was the second half of January, possibly on the day of the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 20, who could approve easing of EU sanctions.

"We were at an advanced stage in Vienna," said a diplomat from one of the six world powers. "A lot of work has been done so we can go very fast."

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned, however, that some western diplomats were concerned Iran could be "more difficult" in the technical discussions because of Washington's decision to expand sanctions this month.

"I am afraid the Iranians will be tougher now," he said.

The nuclear accord is designed to halt Iran's nuclear advances for a period of six months to buy time for negotiations on a final settlement of the decade-old standoff.

Iran rejects western suspicions that its atomic work is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons and says it is for peaceful purposes only.

U.S. officials have said the new blacklistings should not complicate the practical talks and are part of U.S. efforts to continue exposing those supporting Iran's nuclear program or seeking to evade current sanctions.

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