Chief spokesman: P5+1 negotiates for verifiable legally-binding agreement with Iran

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 17 / Trend, S. Isayev/

The P5+1 group is negotiating with Iran to have a verifiable, legally-binding agreement, signed and sealed, chief spokesman for EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, Michael Mann told Trend.

Mann was commenting on the outcome of the recent nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group.

Mann did not disclose any details of the proposal package that the Iranian delegation presented to the P5+1 group during the meeting, but said it was useful to receive such proposals from Iran.

"We're not talking about the content at all, but the discussion itself - it has been the most detailed discussion on the technicality that we've ever had, so clearly that's a positive thing," Mann said.

He went on to speak about the technical talks between the two sides that will discuss specific details of the proposals that the Iranian side has presented.

Spokesman of Iran's FM, Abbas Araqchi said previously that the proposals were "balanced and realistic", adding that there is no excuse for the opposing side not to accept them.

"We were cautiously optimistic, but really before we can go into any details at all, we need to have technical discussions. There is going to be a meeting of technical experts, probably in the next couple of weeks, to prepare the next negotiation session, which will be on the 7-8 of November," Mann underscored.

Commenting on the opinion that Iran could be using the nuclear talks as a cover to buy itself some time to make further nuclear advances, Mann said the negotiations will continue anyway.

"The only thing I can say is that Catherine Ashton has a mandate from the UN Security Council to negotiate a settlement with Iran, and Iran's foreign minister who is leading the talks for them, has said that he wants to be transparent and wants to negotiate an agreement," Mann said. "So, we have to work on the basis that he means it."

"We are all working as hard as we can to negotiate this settlement, and to re-assure the international community about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program," he added.

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 researches instead.

Iran's FM Mohammad Javad Zarif said that a nuclear proposal presented to major powers in Geneva allows for "snap inspections" of the country's nuclear facilities.

"He said what he said, but what matters is that if there is an agreement, for which we very much hope, that it is verifiable, according to which people can go and check if it has been implemented," Mann said.

In 2012, representatives of P5+1 group and Iran held three rounds of talks in Istanbul (April 14), Baghdad (May 23-24) and Moscow (June18-19). None of these meetings resulted in breakthroughs on disputed nuclear issues. Previously talks between the "Six Powers" and Iran were not conducted for over a year.