Senior MP: N. Rights Iran’s Redline in Vienna Talks

A senior Iranian legislator underlined that protecting the country’s nuclear rights is among the most important redlines in the talks with the world powers, and warned that any pressure by the West to trample on this right would lead to a failure in the current negotiations in Vienna.
“The important point in these negotiations is maintaining the Iranian nation’s inalienable rights in using the peaceful nuclear technology and any agreement should include this important principle,” member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Fathollah Hosseini told FNA on Saturday.

“Any pressure by the negotiating countries on Iran to make it withdraw from its nuclear rights will lead the negotiations to failure,” he stressed.

Hosseini said that another important point in the talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) is the removal of all cruel sanctions against the Iranian nation.

The sixth round of talks between Tehran and the G5+1 headed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton officially started in Vienna this week.

Zarif held separate meetings with Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Qun who leads Beijing’s delegation in Vienna talks and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and head of his country’s team Sergey Ryabov in Vienna on Wednesday afternoon.

Also on Wednesday, Zarif held a bilateral meeting with Ashton which was focused on drawing up agenda of the Vienna 6 talks.

The Iranian foreign minister also attended a tripartite meeting with Ashton and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

Also on Friday, Iranian and EU officials in a meeting in Vienna held another round of talks on drafting a final agreement between Tehran and the G5+1 over the former’s nuclear program.

During the meeting in the Austrian capital today, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi and EU Deputy Foreign Policy Chief Helga Schmidt started bilateral consultations on the final deal.

Before meeting Schmidt, Araqchi and his US counterpart William Burns also held a bilateral meeting.

In a video message on the eve of a new round of talks with the six world powers on Wednesday, Zarif asked his counterparts from the sextet not to miss the present opportunity for striking a deal with Iran and putting an end to an unnecessary crisis.