Deputy FM: Iran, G5+1 Have 1 Year to Reach Final Deal
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator in talks with the world powers Seyed Abbas Araqchi announced that Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) have agreed on a one-year deadline to reach a final deal to settle their dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
“The final step of negotiations will start one month later and based on the Geneva agreement it shouldn’t take more than a year,” Araqchi said in an interview on Wednesday.
Asked if the Geneva agreement inked by Iran and the world powers recognizes the country’s right of enrichment, he said, “Enrichment is our inalienable right and we don’t need them to recognize it; our enrichment doesn’t depend on anyone’s permission.”
Meantime, Araqchi underlined that the Geneva agreement assures that the final step will include an enrichment program for Iran.
On November 24, Iran and the world powers sealed a six-month Joint Plan of Action to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program. In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Sextet of world powers agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and continue talks with the country to settle all problems between the two sides.
Then after several rounds of experts talks on how to enforce the agreement, Iran and the six major world powers finalized an agreement on ways to implement the deal.
On January 20, a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran has halted its 20-percent enrichment activity under the Geneva deal. Hours later the US and the EU removed part of their sanctions against Tehran.
