Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 18
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's deputy foreign minister for European and American Affairs, Majid Takht Ravanchi says that Iran's flexibility in nuclear talks with the P5+1 is not unlimited.
Takht Ravanchi, who is a member of the country's nuclear negotiating team, said Iran has warned the opposite side on the issue, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Aug. 18.
The top diplomat went on to note that if the other party does not include unrelated topics into the negotiation and does not dawdle, the talks will be concluded before the 24 Nov. deadline.
Iran started the nuclear talks with good will and would like to see the project come to fruition, Takht Ravanchi said.
"However it will not be the end of the world, if negotiations fail," he stressed.
Last week, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif argued that achieving a final agreement on country's nuclear case seems to be impossible before the Nov. 24 deadline.
He noted that even if Iran and the P5+1 achieve a general consensus over various nuclear topics, the details will need more time to be discussed.
Iran and the P5+1(five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) agreed to extend their nuclear negotiations for another four months until Nov. 24 after failing to meet the July 20 deadline to reach a deal on curbing the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for ending sanctions.
Under the extension agreement the U.S. will give Tehran access to an additional $2.8 billion in oil export revenues frozen abroad by the U.S. sanctions in four stages of $500 million and two stages of $400 million.
In return, Iran besides diluting its 2 percent enriched uranium stock, will convert a quarter of its stockpile of 20 percent-enriched uranium oxide, 25 kilograms, into fuel plates, which would make it almost impossible to convert it back into gas that could be further enriched to weapons grade.
The two sides sealed an interim deal in Geneva, on November 23, 2013, for a six-month period. The deal, which took effect on January 20, expired on July 20.
Under the deal, dubbed the Geneva Joint Plan of Action, the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities.
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.