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Russia sees no need in extending talks on Iran’s nuclear program — deputy foreign minister

"It is possible to reach the agreement by the set deadline of June 30," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said

MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. There is no need to extend talks on Iran’s nuclear program between P5+1 (five permanent members of UN Security Council and Germany) and Tehran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

"I want to categorically stop talks about extending the negotiations [on Iran’s nuclear program]," Ryabkov said. "If we don’t focus on the end result now, it means we will lower our own chances of a positive outcome," he stressed.

"What will change in three months? Nothing," the diplomat said. "The issue is not how much more time is needed for negotiations, but rather how to make necessary positive decisions," he added.

Ryabkov stressed that "everything that needs to be done in the framework of the expert work on the text [of the final agreement] has been done and is being done." "We do not develop Plan B, we call on all our colleagues to approach the current situation with utmost responsibility, proceeding from the fact that is possible to finish by June 30," he added. "There is nothing irresolvable in the negotiations at the moment," he said.

"It is possible to reach the agreement by the set deadline of June 30," he added.

US State Secretary John Kerry said in an interview with Boston Globe on June 13 that "if progress is made, he would be willing to go over the deadline by days but not weeks."

Agreement on Iran’s nuclear program

Following a negotiating marathon in Switzerland in early April, Iran and the six powers, reached a framework agreement on cutting down Tehran’s nuclear program.

The framework has cleared the way for talks on a comprehensive deal with Iran by June 30 under which it would limit its nuclear activities for at least a decade in exchange for a gradual end to all sanctions imposed by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States on Tehran’s energy and financial sectors.

The Russian side believes that negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program could be successfully completed if the sides observed agreements reached in the Swiss city of Lausanne in April.

"There is no obstacle to successful completion of talks on Iran’s nuclear problem if all negotiators stick to the political framework agreed at a foreign ministers’ meeting in Lausanne," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with counterparts from Iran and China in Moscow earlier in June.