Iran says nuclear deal must guarantee removal of bans

A senior Iranian negotiator says any deal with the P5+1 group of world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program should certainly guarantee removal of all sanctions.

“It is not possible to have a deal without lifting sanctions, all sanctions must be removed,” Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday.

The Iranian official pointed to the difficulty of the task to see all sanctions removed all at once, stressing, however, that the lifting of major economic and oil embargoes constitutes the cornerstone in any agreement.

“…The type and the entity by which the sanctions have been imposed are very variable, they must be distinguished, but we insist that in the first step of the agreement all economic, financial, oil and banking sanctions must be lifted,” Araqchi said.

The Iranian negotiator also stated that the removal of sanctions should be based on a “clear and precise perspective, otherwise there would definitely be no deal.”

Araqchi added that minor but key problems still remain in front of the two sides, which are mostly related to the issues of sanctions as well as research and development on Iran’s advanced centrifuge machines.

“Until we have solutions to all problems we cannot have a comprehensive agreement,” AFP quoted Araqchi as saying.

Hamid Baeidinejad, another member of Iran’s delegation to Lausanne talks, told Press TV on Tuesday that Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries have reached an agreement on the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions, but minor issues still remain.

“Sanctions have many aspects, there are unilateral sanctions, US sanctions, EU sanctions, UNSC sanctions... I should say that many of these aspects have been resolved, but still there are some limited areas that also need to be resolved, and we are now concentrating on those remaining technical aspects with regard to the sanctions,” Baeidinejad told Press TV.

Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany – along with senior officials of the European Union continue holding successive rounds of talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne to narrow the existing differences on  Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Araqchi’s comments come as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State held fresh talks on Iran’s nuclear file in Lausanne on Wednesday.

Joint statement foreseeable

According to Araqchi, a joint statement, declaring the progress the two sides have made over the past days in Lausanne, would be issued later on Wednesday.

The seasoned diplomat said Iran has no rush for reaching a flawed conclusion in the ongoing talks, saying, “Time is important to us, but the content of the negotiations and our demands are more important.”

The two sides have actually missed a March 31 deadline for reaching a mutual understanding on whether they could continue further talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The potential agreement paves the way for a much broader deal by end of June which guarantees peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities in return for a promise by international powers to lift unfair sanctions on the country.

MS/MKA/SS

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