Six powers ‘not far’ from deal with Iran: France

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are “not far” from reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.

“We are not far from an agreement with the Iranians, but we are not there yet,” Fabius told Europe 1 radio on Monday.

Iran and the six world powers – Britain, France, China, Russia and, the US plus Germany – concluded their three-day negotiations early on Sunday in Geneva. Both sides have agreed to resume talks on November 20.

Denying that France hampered a possible deal between Tehran and the six powers during the talks, Fabius said Paris does not follow the policies of other countries and pursues an independent foreign policy.

“We are firm, but not rigid. We want peace, and we want to reach the end,” the French foreign minister added.

Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear energy program failed to reach an agreement due to France’s objection that “the terms of a preliminary accord were too easy on Tehran,” Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.

Fabius once again put forward the demand that said Iran must suspend the construction of the Arak heavy-water reactor and stop enriching uranium to the 20 purity.

Te Arak reactor is under the constant supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and would gradually replace Tehran’s research reactor which produces medical radioisotopes for about one million cancer patients.

Furthermore, Iran has announced that it is open to negotiations on the level of enrichment and the amount of uranium to be enriched.

“The frameworks, level, volume, form and location of enrichment, can be the subject to negotiations,” Araqchi, former Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman who is currently Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, said in September.

“I am hopeful we will reach a good deal. We want an accord that ensures regional and international stability,” Fabius said, adding that, “If we don’t reach an accord it would be a considerable problem in a few months.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that uranium enrichment inside the Islamic Republic was the country’s “red line.”

“For us, red lines are not to be crossed. The rights of the Iranian nation and [our] national interests are our red lines; and those rights include nuclear rights within the framework of international law, as well as enrichment on Iranian soil,” Rouhani noted.