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Iran's nuclear program

Russian official stresses importance of taking Iran nuclear talks to finish line

VIENNA, June 12. /TASS/. Pace of talks between Iran and the P5+1 format countries has slowed down, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday.

"We’ll be discussing at this round the same things we discussed at the previous round - the very same things," he said. "Unfortunately the pace of the talks has been slowing down over the past few weeks."

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"The period of time left before the deadline isn’t long actually and we now must take the talks to the finish line as soon as possible," Ryabkov said. "We’ve worked through all the issues, which are still unresolved, many a time and we know them perfectly well."

"They are the pattern of reducing and lifting the sanctions and refinement of approaches to the nuclear problems, including the restrictions on Iranian nuclear programme that will be coordinated with Iran and the issues of access to Iranian nuclear facilities," he said.

Ryabkov said the sides had not managed to dot all the "i"s as regards the latter problem and the possibility of a resumption of UN sanctions. The uncertainty around the reconfiguring of some Iranian nuclear facilities remained unresolved.

"We don't have final clarity on these issues," he said.

In an ideal situation, it would be desirable for the sides to round up Friday's consultations with at least an approximate understanding of when and on what occasion the ministers of the negotiating countries should be engaged in the talks, Ryabkov said.

"We always speak for relieving ministers from the chores like the formulation and finalization of texts, which should be done by experts, since the ministers as politicians of the highest level should concentrate on the solution of a few issues but unfortunately we haven't yet reached the moment where we could say we've formulated a small list of outstanding problems and this means a ministerial meeting is needed for assessing the situation and fixing the arrangements."

"That's why one of the tasks of the talks on Friday will be to formulate a general understanding of where and on what occasion the ministers could possibly gather," Ryabkov said.

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