Sanctions, agreement don't go together: Zarif

Tehran, March 6, IRNA - Western economic sanctions should be lifted completely, rather than gradually, before an agreement can be reached in talks on the Iranian nuclear issue, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted saying. “Sanctions and an agreement don’t go together,” said Zarif in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News on Thursday, referring to nuclear negotiators called the P5+1, at a time when both sides are aiming to conclude a framework agreement by the end of March. Zarif said a gradual lifting of the sanctions on Iran is not “very conducive” to confidence building. “We have a very clear mandate that all sanctions must go.” The talks are expected to resume March 15 in Geneva, Switzerland. Zarif also said the remaining difficulties in the talks are not technical anymore and are political, urging the West to make a political decision. The Iranian foreign minister stressed the importance of creating a verification mechanism to secure the implementation of the agreement. “If there is an agreement and our parliament approves, Iran is accepting to abide by even more stringent international controls,” he said. However, he said Iran will not accept “arbitrary and unfounded” requests about the Parchin military facility near Tehran, which has been suspected as a nuclear test site. In Vienna last November, both sides in the talks agreed to aim at a framework agreement by late March. But Zarif said “before all details come together, we will not have an agreement,” in line with the supreme leader’s sudden opposition to a two-stage agreement. About the possibility of reaching a final deal, he said he saw signs and difficulties as well. According to Kyodo News, one of the difficulties apparently comes from the US Congress where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a speech on Tuesday opposing such an agreement with Iran. Zarif criticized the speech as an attempt to make reaching an agreement more difficult. The Iranian foreign minister was in Montreux, western Switzerland, for three-day nuclear talks through Wednesday with US Secretary of State John Kerry.