Zarif, Ashton Working Dinner Dwells On Vienna 4 Talks Agenda

Vienna, May 14, IRNA -- Iran's FM Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton discussed ways to proceed the fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and six western powers during a working dinner in Vienna Tuesday evening. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Ashton, Zarif reported ˈgood talksˈ on how to move ahead at this stage of talks as both sides will start negotiations on drafting a final nuclear agreement later in the day. Zarif said Iran would outline its general views in the morning session and then the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) were scheduled to hold a meeting among themselves and afterwards negotiations would resume. ˈWe will start Wednesday with a general discussion on the framework and then we will start negotiating on the details and this is going to be difficult and time-consuming ...,ˈ Zarif said. He stressed these talks were ˈmore sensitiveˈ compared to previous rounds of negotiations as the drafting phase of a lasting nuclear accord begins. Zarif said while there was still a lot of ˈhard workˈ to reach a deal by July 20, he was upbeat that reaching an agreement by July 20 was possible, provided the other side showed ˈgoodwill and realismˈ in the negotiations. He reiterated on Iranˈs right to have a peaceful civilian nuclear program. ˈWe have said we want nothing more than our rights but we also wonˈt surrender on our rights,ˈ Zarif said. He did not rule out the possibility for a foreign ministerial-level talks before July 20, if there is a need to press ahead with making progress in the negotiation process./end