West needs to prove honesty for N. Deal

"The nuclear negotiations can produce positive results if the other sides show honesty and seriousness," Larijani said during the meeting in Tehran on Saturday evening.

Elsewhere, he referred to the positive cooperation between Iran and Italy, and said, "There are abundant opportunities in different economic, trade and political sectors which can be used for developing bilateral ties."

He also underlined the importance of increasing interactions between the two countries' parliaments.

Gentiloni, for his part, pointed to the age-old relations between Tehran and Rome, and said, "Italy has always tried to enhance its political, economic and cultural ties with Iran."

He also described terrorism as the biggest threat posed to the region and the world, and said, "Collective international resolve is needed for fighting terrorist groups and establishing tranquility and stability in the region."

Gentiloni voiced concern about the Libyan crisis, and said, "Continued crises in Libya and Syria leave direct undesirable impacts on Italy and other European states."

Senior officials from Iran and the six world powers will hold more talks in Montreux, Switzerland, on March 5, the European Union (EU) said on Saturday.

"The EU is making every effort to facilitate the negotiations. We cannot miss the opportunity of a good agreement," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

The talks between political directors will be preceded by a series of bilateral meetings between Iran and some of the members of the G5+1 starting on Monday, March 2.

In relevant remarks yesterday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined that Tehran and the six world powers have made progress and are at a sensitive stage in their nuclear talks, but the issue of sanctions has become a stumbling block on their path.

"The nuclear negotiations have arrived at a sensitive stage. We had highly good, detailed and precise talks last week," Zarif said in a joint press conference with Gentiloni in Tehran on Saturday.

Noting that considerable progress had been made during the last round of talks between the two sides, he said, "But differences in views still remain in many other fields both on nuclear- and sanctions-related issues."

"We have stated repeatedly that sanctions are no good to the attainment of any goal and the US and the western states should come to this conclusion that the sanctions are not a capital, but they are an obstacle to reaching an understanding; whenever this reality is accepted, we will come close to the attainment of a nuclear agreement," Zarif said.

He expressed the hope that Iran and the Group 5+1 could make some progress, specially in area of sanctions, in their upcoming meeting in Switzerland.

The Iranian and American teams of negotiators started several days of talks in Geneva on February 20. Then after two days of negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Head of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and President Rouhani's brother and senior aide Hossein Fereidoun as well as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz joined their deputies in the talks.

After two days of intensive negotiations with his US counterpart, Zarif said that Tehran and Washington had "serious, useful and constructive" talks in the last few days, but there was still a long way ahead before a final nuclear deal could be struck.

Speaking to reporters last Monday and after two days of talks with his US counterpart, Zarif said, "We have made progress on some topics to some extent, but there is still a long way to pave before reaching a final deal."

He noted that Iran and the six major world powers had "serious, useful and constructive" talks, specially with the US whose secretaries of state and energy also took part in the negotiations.

The Iranian foreign minister reiterated that there would be no agreement unless both sides agreed on all issues.
/SR