Iran Rejects Media Reports on Reducing Number of Centrifuges

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi rejected some media reports about a reduction in the number of centrifuges that Iran has demanded to have during the talks with the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany).
A Thursday report by Reuters cited “a Western diplomat” as saying that “Iran has reduced the number of centrifuges it wants”. According to the report, diplomats claimed that the Islamic Republic had signaled it would settle for a lower figure than 50,000 centrifuges.

“All the figures which are reported on the number of centrifuges are the figment of the imagination of some foreign media,” Araqchi said in a news conference on Thursday.

Araqchi, who is a top nuclear negotiator, noted that certain foreign media outlets seek to ruin the climate of talks between Iran and the G5+1 and create tensions, and therefore they do not deserve attention.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister further expressed the hope that Iran the six countries coud manage to resolve their difference and work out a final accord on Tehran’s nuclear energy program before a July 20 deadline.

The comments by Araqchi came as Iran and its negotiating partners formally kicked off the sixth round of nuclear talks in Vienna on Thursday to discuss a permanent accord aimed at ending the Western dispute over Tehran’s nuclear activities.

On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Facebook page that Western media speculations on the nuclear discussions between Tehran and the G5+1 should not be taken seriously as they attempt to influence the negotiations instead of reporting the events.