No deadlock in Iran nuclear talks: Velayati

A top aide to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says he does not believe that the nuclear talks between Iran and the six world powers have reached a deadlock.

Speaking to reporters after his meeting with the French Foreign Ministry’s Director General for North Africa and Middle East Jean-François Girault in Tehran on Saturday, Ali Akbar Velayati said negotiations between Iran and the six world powers — the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany — have not ended and will continue next month.

Hoping that the talks would yield a positive result, Velayati added, “Since the nuclear issue was first raised, the Islamic Republic of Iran has never turned away from the negotiations and [Tehran] always favors and supports the continuation of the talks.”

Velayati, who is also president of the Center for Strategic Research of Iran’s Expediency Council, noted that during his meeting with Girault, the two sides exchanged views on a number of issues including Tehran-Paris ties, regional and international cooperation and Iran’s nuclear energy program.

Iran and the six countries wrapped up their latest round of the high-level nuclear talks in Vienna on Friday.

Iran says there was no tangible progress in writing the draft text of a comprehensive agreement over the country’s nuclear energy program.

Iran and the six countries have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal that would end the West’s dispute with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program.

In November 2013, the two sides signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva that came into force on January 20 this year.