Top Advisor: Israel Trying Hard to Ruin Iran-G5+1 Talks

Iranian Parliament Speaker’s top advisor for international affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam cautioned that Israel is trying to ruin the talks between Iran and Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
Sheikholeslam pointed to the pressures exerted by the Zionist lobby on the US Congress to impose new sanctions against Iran, and said, “All of Iran should be behind the team of negotiators and their morale should not be weakened under any pretext, because negotiation is a very sensitive and difficult task.”

Sheikholeslam reiterated that Israel is making every effort to prevent Iran and the six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) from reaching an agreement in the upcoming talks slated for November 20 in Geneva, and said, “We are in the midst of the talks with the G5+1 countries and should still continue doing so.”

He stressed that the most important thing at the present juncture is maintaining internal unity in the country and supporting the team of negotiators as the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has advised “us we should avoid weakening the (Iranian) team of negotiators”.

On Friday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined the good performance of the country’s negotiating team in the recent talks with the major world powers in Geneva.

Amir Abdollahian voiced support for the performance of the Iranian negotiating team, saying the Iranian delegation has not breached the country’s principles one iota and negotiated “very reasonably and from a position of strength”.

Iran and the Group 5+1 had three days of intensive talks in Geneva from November 7 to November 9.

The two sides did not reach an agreement but stressed that significant progress had been made and expressed optimism about the prospect of a possible deal in the future.

The next round of the talks between Iran and the six countries is slated for November 20 in the Swiss city of Geneva.