Iran, P5+1 start expert-level talks

The two-day talks started at the United Nations’ office in Vienna on Wednesday.

The Iranian delegation is headed by Director General for Political and International Affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry Hamid Ba’eedinejad while the six countries’ technical delegation is led by Stephen Clement, an aide to European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block in the way of resolving the Western disputes over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the sanctions imposed on Iran and not the number of centrifuges or the level of enrichment.

Tehran wants the sanctions entirely lifted while the US, under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby, insists that at least the UN-imposed sanctions against Iran should remain in place.

Iran and the P5+1 group – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program as a November 24 deadline approaches.

Meanwhile, a senior Iranian negotiator said on October 19 that the extension of Iran’s nuclear talks with six world powers beyond the November deadline is not on the agenda of either of the negotiating sides.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said, “Neither of the negotiating parties is interested in the extension of the talks. All sides are determined to achieve an agreement prior to the deadline. Therefore, extension is not on the agenda of any of the parties.”
/SR