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Zarif, Ashton hold ‘useful negotiations’

Business Materials 27 May 2014 17:20 (UTC +04:00)

Tehran, Iran, May 27

By Milad Fashtami - Trend:

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi said that the talks in Turkish city of Istanbul have been useful.

Araqchi said on May 27 that the country's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton have held lengthy but useful negotiations in Turkish city of Istanbul to study different scenarios for continuation of nuclear talks between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries, IRNA News Agency reported.

Zarif and Ashton are currently holding the second day of their talks in Turkey.

The meeting is aimed at reviewing the progress of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

Iran and P5+1 are set to hold another round of talks in June.

Araqchi previously said that the P5+1 group of countries recognized the country's right to enrich uranium in the latest round of nuclear talks between the two sides in Geneva.

The official said that the Western side also accepted that the Fordo nuclear facility remain active and that the Arak reactor continue to work under a compromise formula, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported on May 24.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator once again highlighted that the country has no plans to produce nuclear weapons.

"Iran's secret for success is the country's ability to say "no" to the West," he said.

Araqchi said on May 21 that the country will never negotiate over its defense system with the P5+1.

"The other side insists on putting the issue of Iranian missiles on the agenda of nuclear talks with Tehran," he said, adding that Tehran has so far prevented this, and will continue to do so until the end of the talks, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported on May 21.

He went on to note that Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries disagreed on most of the topics on the agenda in recent talks in Vienna.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, China, Russia, France and the UK - plus Germany wrapped up their latest round of the high-level nuclear talks in the Austrian capital Vienna on May 16.

Tehran and the six countries have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal that would end the West's decade-old dispute with Iran over the country's nuclear energy 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.

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