Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi has said that during the last nuclear talks with the Group P5+1, Iran and the negotiating sides managed to resolve the technical difficulties they used to have.
"We had reached a kind of impasse in the technical talks. The country's higher authorities deemed it so that I would personally attend the talks and set for negotiations on the details with the other side's most senior authority, which is the US Minister of Energy," Salehi said commenting on the Montreux negotiations which were held at the diplomatic and technical levels.
Luckily, during the two sessions, the talks were very constructive and we took good steps, said the Iranian official, IRIB news agency reported March 7.
The official also said that he and his American counterpart discussed the Arak heavy water facility, Fordo nuclear site, nuclear research and development, and a host of minor issues.
"In issues related to enrichment and the Arak reactor we took very good steps and managed to remove their factitious concerns through our technical offers, defending our national interest and the nuclear industry itself as the great achievements of the AEOI," he reiterated.
The talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany) were extended until June 30, 2015 to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement. However, the sides attempt to reach a political accord in March.
After the parties failed to meet the Nov. 24, 2014 deadline they also extended the Geneva nuclear deal, which was signed in November 2013 for providing Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities.