Negotiations can eliminate distrust between Iran and West: expert

TEHRAN, July 1(MNA) – A professor of political sciences at Tehran University said that a lack of “mutual trust” is the main impediment to nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Western powers. “However, I believe that in the process of negotiations distrust will be eliminated,” Sadeq Zibakalam told a round table discussion on nuclear talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) in Moscow on June 18 and 19. The talks in Moscow were a follow-up to negotiations in Istanbul on April 14 and in Baghdad on May 23 and 24. Zibakalam said he thinks that Iran has found a “new view” toward the West in nuclear negotiations and “I believe the West has realized this point that Iran is serious in negotiations.” Akbar Valizadeh, a Tehran University professor, also said it was not expected that the negotiations in Moscow to produce a breakthrough. “One should not expect that an issue which has remained unresolved for nearly eight years to be resolved fully in one or two rounds of talks,” Valizadeh told the round table discussion hosted by the Mehr News Agency. During the talks in Moscow the two sides agreed to hold expert talks in Istanbul on July 3. Valizadeh said “a kind of political wisdom” prevailed during the talks in Moscow. He said in the Moscow talks each side expressed its demands very “clearly” and this was considered as a “step forward”. However, he said this clarity can also be a cause of “concern” as the negotiations did not produce a result.