Iran: Nuclear Talks Should be Fair, Balanced

Local Editor

High-level negotiations over Iran's nuclear program entered their sixth day on Thursday after diplomats blew through a June 30 deadline and extended an interim accord by a week.

Iran and six world powers gave themselves an extra week on Tuesday to reach a fair and balanced accord with the P5+1 group of world powers over Tehran's nuclear program.

In a meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] Yukiya Amano in Tehran on Thursday, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said a possible deal must ensure the rights of Iran as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT].

Amano is in Tehran for nuclear talks with Iranian authorities over the nation's nuclear program.
Furthermore, a lasting agreement was one which would satisfy all parties to the talks, said the Iranian official.

Shamkhani also stressed the peaceful nature of Tehran's nuclear program, expressing the Islamic Republic's readiness to continue its cooperation with the IAEA.

Iran welcomed any proposal that would pave the ground for the development of the country's "peaceful nuclear industry" and the "unconditional lifting of illegal and cruel sanctions" against the country, Shamkhani said.

Amano, for his part, expressed satisfaction over his trip to Iran and said the Islamic Republic's concerns regarding joint cooperation with the agency were understandable.

Moreover, the visiting IAEA chief was also expected to sit down with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Vienna-based nuclear agency said that during his stay in Tehran, Amano hoped to "accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues related to Iran's nuclear program."

Amano's visit came as the IAEA recently confirmed Tehran's commitment to what was agreed with six world powers in 2013.

In its latest report, which was circulated among members of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors and the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, the UN nuclear watchdog said by Tuesday, June 30, Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile was just below what had been agreed under a November 2013 interim deal reached between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group - the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France plus Germany.

Adding to that, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held one-on-one talks earlier on Wednesday.

"We have some very difficult issues, but we believe we are making progress and we are going to continue to work because of that," Kerry declared. Zarif said the talks were making progress and would continue to do so.

Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group are working together in the Austrian capital, Vienna, to finalize the text of a possible deal over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

The negotiations were set to intensify on Thursday, with senior officials returning to talks in the Austrian capital.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team