Iranian Nuclear Negotiator Team Returning Home

Vienna, June 21, IRNA – Iranian nuclear negotiator team, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Vienna for Tehran following 5 days of tough and intensive talks, dubbed Vienna 5, with representative of six world powers in Austrian capital city. The fifth round of Iran’s nuclear negotiation with the so-called 5+1 Group (also known as the E3+3 – comprised of the US, Russia, China, France, and Britain, the UNSC Big 5, plus Germany) held in the Austrian capital city as of Monday, June 16 with a working lunch between the heads of the two sides, the EU foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton and the Iranian top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif. A distinctive feature of the Vienna 5 negotiations was the presence of the senior US politician, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in this round of talks on the first day of the talks. He joined Zarif and Ashton on the first day of the negotiations and they had 150 minutes of trilateral talks on Monday afternoon. The Iranian and the sextet delegations throughout their five days of tough and intensive negotiations took part in several meetings in various levels, ranging from the Zarif—Ashton talks to the two sides’ deputies and experts in nuclear and sanctions’ affairs, and eventually, the Wednesday night talks which lasted till 2 am Thursday morning, during which drafting the comprehensive final agreement finally began. The two sides also on Friday and the last day of the Vienna 5 talks still kept on their sensitive, intensive and tough talks so that even at the time of the ending press conference of the Iranian foreign minister with the Iranian reporters, his deputies were still engaged in talks with the deputies of Ms. Ashton. Drafting the final text of comprehensive agreement based on the Joint Plan of Action which began as of Wednesday, June 18, took place under such conditions that according to the two sides of the talks the differences of opinion on such issues as the needed period of time for completion of the comprehensive final agreement’s text, the extent and level of enrichment, that is to say an enrichment program based on the Geneva Agreement, and a time schedule for lifting the sanctions, still remain unresolved. According to Abbas Araqchi, the spokesman of the Iranian negotiator team, the toughest phase of the negotiations is preparing the time schedule for lifting the sanctions, because the steps to be taken by Iran and the other side need to be quite balanced and of the same weigh and value. That is while the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said in this regard that the two sides begin drafting the text in accordance with the international norms and the issues on which agreement is achieved are thus put down, but the points on which there still remains differences are included in brackets so that later on the discussion will be on more specified subjects. The Vienna 5 negotiations were ended on Friday evening parallel with the beginning of drafting the final comprehensive agreement so that Iran and the 5+1G will once again gather together on Wednesday, July 2 in the Austrian capital city in Vienna 6 talks and try to conclude drafting that final agreement by July 20. Catherine Ashton’s spokesman, Michel Mann, too, announced on Friday that the top diplomats of the 5+1G will prior to the beginning of next round of negotiations on July 2 have a meeting in Vienna on June 26 in Brussels. Also, the Iranian foreign minister said in his last press conference in Vienna at the end of the 5th round of nuclear talks, “Tonight when the sides of the negotiator delegations will return to their countries’ capital cities they have the chance to read the viewpoints of the other sides printed on paper.” During his five-day stay in Vienna, Zarif in addition to the sensitive nuclear talks with the six world powers also had a meeting with the UN watchdog chief Yukiya Amano. Also on Wednesday night in an intimate meeting with the Austrian and Iranian physician who have cooperated in curing the Iranian victims of the chemical weapons usage by the former Iraqi dictator, he appreciated their humanitarian endeavor./end