Baku, Azerbaijan, May 22
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran is not in a rush to achieve a comprehensive nuclear deal with the West, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said.
"However we believe that the two sides will benefit from a win-win agreement, so delay on agreement will impose losses on both parties," Rouhani said, Iran's State IRINN TV reported on May 22.
Rouhani made the remarks during a press conference in Shanghai at the end of the summit of Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
He also expressed hope that a comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 is possible before the July 20 deadline.
Rouhani added that Iran's economic situation is better compared to the preceding year, remarking that the country's position in the world also improved.
The president added that unlike the former administration his government refuses to make the kind of statements that could be used negatively against Iran.
"For the time being the west's excuses against the Islamic Republic are gone," he noted.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the U.S., China, Russia, France and the UK - plus Germany wrapped up their latest round of high-level nuclear talks in the Austrian capital Vienna on May 16 without any result. Tehran and the six countries have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal on Tehran's disputed nuclear program.
In November 2013, the two sides signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva that came into force on January 20.
The deal (the Joint Plan of Action), which came into force on January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of all the sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
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.