Tehran, Iran, Nov. 8
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi expressed hope that the next round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries in Oman's capital Muscat will be fruitful.
"Iran is taking the talks seriously and we can see the will in the other side as well, so reaching a comprehensive deal is not out of reach," he said on Nov. 8 in an interview with Iran's Arabic-language network, al-Alam.
"None of the parties wants to go back to the situation before the Geneva deal," Araqchi said, adding that such move would be a dangerous scenario.
He went on to note that the Muscat talks will only include the nuclear issue.
"No other topic would be discussed during the talks," he explained.
He once again stressed that Iran will not accept any sanction to remain in place in the final and comprehensive deal with the P5+1 group of countries.
The two-day trilateral talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, his US counterpart John Kerry, and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton will kick-off Muscat on November 9.
Araqchi said on October 25 that Iran will not shut down any nuclear facility.
He said that the country will keep all of its nuclear capabilities.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on October 22 that 90 percent of the negotiations have been completed and the two sides are taking the final steps.
The two sides are not interested in extending the 24-November deadline set for striking a final and comprehensive deal, Afkham said.
Iran and P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council comprising of China, France, Russia, Britain, the US Plus Germany) sealed an interim deal in Geneva on November 24, 2013 to pave the way for the full resolution of the West's decade-old dispute with Iran over the country's nuclear energy program, Press TV reported.
The Geneva deal took effect on January 20 and expired on July 20. However the two sides agreed to extend their talks for four months till Nov. 24 to reach a permanent deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program.
In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the US and its allies agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran.