No agreement yet on nuclear talks: Foreign Ministry

Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA – A senior official at the Foreign Ministry on Saturday said no agreement has been reached over any issues discussed at Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the world six powers. Spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry Marziyeh Afkham made the remarks while commenting on a recent report by the Associated Press which claimed Iran and US have agreed on a formula that Washington hopes will reduce Tehranˈs ability to make nuclear arms by committing it to ship to Russia much of the material needed for such weapons. “Such media propaganda was made with political motivations and is basically aimed at damaging the atmosphere of the nuclear talks and further complicating the process to resolve the nuclear issues,” Afkham said while rejecting the American news agencyˈs Friday report. AP quoted two diplomats as saying that nuclear negotiators at their December round of talks drew up for the first time a catalog outlining areas of potential accord and differing approaches to remaining disputes. It said that the diplomats were familiar with the talks and spoke to the news agency recently demanding anonymity because they are not authorized to comment on the closed negotiations. The last round of talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (US, Britain, Russia, France and China plus Germany) ended in Vienna, Austria, on November 24 which was set as the deadline to reach a final comprehensive agreement. However, the two sides failed to make a final deal on that time. Therefore, they decided to extend the talks for another seven months (July 1, 2015). The nuclear talks have been extended twice due to certain disagreements. Afkham had earlier said that the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the world six powers will be held on January 15 at deputy FMs level in Geneva. She had clarified there was no plan for other talks ahead of that date./end