Iran will not relinquish its nuclear rights: Zarif

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran will not relinquish its nuclear rights and will not renege on its commitments to an interim deal between the Islamic Republic and the Sextet of world powers, Press TV reports.

The Iranian foreign minister made the remarks late on Monday after a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in the Austrian capital Vienna ahead of a new round of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, Russia, Britain, France and the United States — plus Germany.

Referring to the last November talks between Iran and the six major powers in the Swiss city of Geneva which aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program, the Iranian foreign minister said, “We are going to start a discussion in good faith in order to address the problems that we decided in Geneva.”

Under the Geneva deal, which was implemented on January 20, the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period. It was also agreed that no nuclear-related sanctions will be imposed on Iran within the same timeframe.

Zarif said the negotiations in Vienna will be based on the Geneva “Joint Plan of Action.”

“We have an agenda that is set by the Joint Plan of Action. We know what we are supposed to do. Our objective is to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program will remain exclusively peaceful. This is a common objective that we agreed upon in Geneva.”

He went on to say that the issues agreed upon in Geneva will be carefully considered and discussed in the new rounds of talks.

“Now we are supposed to plan out how we are going to do that. We have a blueprint for that in the Joint Plan of Action. It sets out the areas that we need to discuss,” Zarif said.

He also stated that if parties come to the talks with good intention, the negotiations will be fruitful.

“We believe that if the parties come to these negotiations in good faith and with the political will aimed at the resolution, we can indeed achieve positive results,” the Iranian official added.

During the Monday meeting, Zarif and Ashton discussed the way the talks will resume on Tuesday between delegations from the Islamic Republic and the world powers.

The Tuesday talks will reportedly focus on new and advanced centrifuges as well as the Arak heavy water reactor.

On Saturday, Zarif said the next round of the nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic and the six countries will be held with a view to Tehran’s “rights and interests.”