Saturday, September 13, 2014

Disagreements over Serious Questions’ in Nuclear Talks - Iran

Iranian deputy foreign minister and top nuclear negotiator Majid Takht-Ravanchi said today that “disagreements over serious questions” persisted in the latest nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers. He added that the P5+1 must respect Iran’s “red lines.”

“After two rounds of negotiations with the European representatives, our positions have not been reconciled and disagreements over serious questions still exist,” Takht-Ravanchi said. (Reuters, 13 September)

His remarks came after the Iranians and their European counterparts exchanges views on Thursday in Vienna. Iran and P5+1 will meet on 18 September in New York.

Takht-Ravanchi urged the P5+1 to “respect the red lines” drawn up by Iran to reach a comprehensive agreement by November deadline. He did not go into details about those “red lines.” Last July, just before the two sides met in Vienna to try finalizing a deal, Iran’s supreme leader said in a speech that Iran must increase the number of its operational uranium-enrichment centrifuges from the current 10,000 to nearly 200,000. Takht-Ravanchi’s “red lines” could include the demand for 200,000 centrifuges.  

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