Iran, Germany Stress Drafting Final Nuclear Deal In Upcoming Talks

Tehran, June 16, IRNA -- Senior Iranian and German diplomats in a meeting in Tehran on Sunday stressed the necessity for the negotiating sides in the upcoming multilateral talks in Vienna to start drafting a final nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers. Following two hours of bilateral talks between senior Iranian and German negotiating teams in Tehran on Sunday afternoon, Iranˈs Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi told FNA that the two sides exchanged views over the topics which are due to be covered in the multilateral nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in Vienna on Monday. ˈThese (bilateral) talks which were carried out on the verge of the next round of negotiations in Vienna were of special importance,ˈ Araqchi said, adding, ˈDuring the talks, the two sides laid emphasis on the need to start drafting the text of the final deal in the (Monday) negotiations.ˈ Araqchi, who is also Iranˈs deputy lead negotiator, said the ˈconsultations with Germany will continue in Viennaˈ. A team of high-ranking German negotiators arrived in Tehran on Friday to discuss bilateral ties and the latest developments in the Vienna nuclear talks in meetings with senior Iranian officials. The delegation is led by Germanyˈs envoy to the multilateral Iran-world powers nuclear talks Hans Dieter Lucas. In November 2013, Iran and the six world powers signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva that came into force on January 20. The deadline for attaining a final deal is July 20. Iran and the six world powers last met in their fourth round of talks in Vienna on May 14-16. Since the November deal, the seven nations 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. After the May meeting, Iran said there has been no tangible progress in writing the draft text of the agreement and it blamed the US for the failure, saying Washington has made excessive demands beyond the agreements made in the previous rounds of talks. Prior to the next round of the multilateral talks, Iran and the powers decided to hold a series of talks to narrow down their differences. Thus, the Iranian negotiating team has had a series of bilateral talks with most of the members of the G5+1 during the last week. On Monday afternoon, representatives from Iran, EU and the United States had five hours of trilateral talks, followed by a bilateral meeting between the Iranian and American delegations in Geneva on Tuesday. The Iranian team then met with the Russian negotiators, including Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, on the sidelines of the Disarmament Conference in Rome on Wednesday. The Iranian diplomats who were headed by Araqchi and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi then met with the French for more than three hours of ˈuseful talks in a positive atmosphereˈ in Geneva on Wednesday. ˈThese talks on the threshold of the upcoming Vienna negotiations were useful,ˈ Araqchi said on Wednesday. He said that the two sides discussed issues related to the nuclear talks as Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany) are preparing for the next round of talks in the Austrian capital. The French foreign ministryˈs new political director Nicolas de Rivière, who has replaced the longtime lead negotiator and political director Jacques Audibert, was leading Franceˈs negotiating team in todayˈs meeting. The next round of the multilateral negotiations among the seven nations will be held in Vienna on June 16-20./end