VIENNA, April 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) group can reach a comprehensive agreement by July 20 but there is no guarantee, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday, April 9.
He said the talks between Iran and the P5+1 in Vienna had gone well and laid the groundwork for discussing concrete wording of the future agreement.
Ryabkov said the most complex issues at the talks concerned the future uranium enrichment programme, the Arak reactor and the lifting of the sanctions on Iran.
“There is such a chance even though there is no guarantee and there can be no guarantee. But we could see that all parties are determined to find a solution,” he said.
“The talks went well. The result is the statement of gradual rapprochement. We came to an understanding that there is the basis for the May round, to be held in the middle of the month, for starting to discuss concrete wording,” Ryabkov said.
“But there are also difficulties. Some serious and big problems are unlikely to be resolved quickly,” he added.
“What is important though is that the parties continued to pursue the points stated at the March and February rounds of talks, specifically going into details and focusing on the search for solutions and engaging with experts rather than reproducing their positions,” Ryabkov said.
“All this was evident at the just-concluded round. In other words, a small but significant and noticeable step forward was taken,” he said.
“There are a number of well known decisions of the UN Security Council, resolutions of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors and the Geneva plan of action, which says that the future parameters of the future Iranian programme should be determined jointly by all parties to the talks, taking into account the practical needs of Iran,” the diplomat said.
“The problem is how to put all this into the language of concrete agreements,” he added.
The interim nuclear deal made on November 24, 2013, called for taking the first step of reciprocal actions to prove good faith in a six-month period to be followed by negotiations for a comprehensive agreement, according to which the Western governments will acknowledge the Iranian nuclear programme as civilian.
The deal was called the first step to be followed by a comprehensive agreement, which, on the one hand, should resolve the international community’s concerns about the Iranian nuclear programme and, on the other hand, remove economic sanctions that slow down Iran’s economic development.
The agreement reached by and between Iran and the P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) in Geneva last year became effective on January 20.