Iran Rejects Media Reports, Analyses on Extension of N. Talks with Powers

~"The atmosphere of negotiations is serious and expert groups are also making use of the present time-table" to have parallel talks, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham told Iranian reporters on the sidelines of the nuclear talks in Vienna today.

Noting that negotiations are underway at the level of deputy ministers and experts, she said, "The news and numerous issues which have been seen in certain analyses on the extension of the talks are not correct."

Asked to comment on the content of the talks, Afkham only mentioned that details are now being reviewed and classified in the meetings of the deputy ministers and experts.

Iran and the six major world powers have already held 9 rounds of nuclear negotiations after inking an interim agreement in Geneva on November 24, 2013, and have only one more week to strike a final deal before the November 24 deadline.

They have already held one round of talks in Muscat, Oman, seven rounds in Vienna, and one more round in New York and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The Geneva agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later on July 20. In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 after they failed to reach an agreement on a number of key issues.

The new round of talks between Iran and the world powers started in Vienna on Tuesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is heading the country's team during the negotiations.

Upon arrival at Vienna airport on Tuesday, he told reporters that the standoff over Iran’s nuclear energy program can easily be resolved if the six powers involved in the talks show the same political will that Iran has to remove the differences.

"As we have said since the very first day, if the other side shows political will for reaching a solution, numerous proposals exist and have been raised to make sure that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful," Zarif said.

The Group 5+1 should take hard decisions in order not to define meaningless redlines during the negotiations to satisfy the pressure groups, he said, adding that such redlines were helpful neither to the settlement of this problem nor to non-proliferation.

Zarif underscored that his team of negotiators had come to Vienna with determination to reach proper results which both meet the Iranian nation's interests and obviate the legitimate concerns of the international community.

The Iranian top diplomat held a meeting with EU Coordinator Catherine Ashton in Vienna on Tuesday about which he voiced pleasure.

"We had good talks and decided on how to continue the negotiations in the coming days and the rest depends on the political will to achieve results," Zarif said after his meeting with Ashton.

He underlined that progress in talks in the next few days depended on the extent to which the western nations show political will to achieve a deal.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi also told reporters that "we have always raised many ideas and proposals which are enough for them to remove their concerns".

Ashton, however, did not make any comment after her two-hour-long working lunch with Zarif in the Austrian capital on Tuesday.

Zarif has already had several trilateral and bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the six world powers, but it is not yet clear if there will be a seven-nation meeting on Thursday.

Source: Fars