Lifting sanctions to top agenda in new nuclear talks: Iran official

An Iranian nuclear negotiator says the issue of the unfair sanctions imposed on Iran will “top the agenda” of the new round of the nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that the Iranian delegation in the new round of the nuclear talks will demand that the US representatives in the talks provide the Iranian team with “clear, precise information” on “the details related to the lifting of the sanctions.”

He said that the Iranian team will also demand that the US team explain about the approval of a bill by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would allow the US Congress to review a possible final nuclear agreement with Iran.

The legislation was voted on in the US Senate committee in a 19-0 vote on April 14.

Araqchi warned about the consequences of the bill for the nuclear negotiations and the serious doubts it creates toward the goodwill of the US side in the nuclear talks.

He emphasized that the US administration is responsible for ensuring that its commitments, especially those pertaining to the issue of sanctions, are honored regardless of US domestic political disputes.

While US President Barack Obama had previously pledged to veto the bill if it was voted through the Congress, the US administration reached a compromise with the drafters of the bill to put in amendments, and withdrew the veto threat in return.

Meanwhile, an Iranian nuclear negotiating team has left Tehran for the Austrian capital, Vienna, to hold expert-level talks with representatives from the P5+1 group.

Araqchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs, Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, Director General for Political and International Affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Hamid Ba’eedinejad, Foreign Minister’s Legal Adviser, Davoud Mohammad-Nia as well as Pejman Rahimian, from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) are the members of the Iranian delegation.

EU Political Director Helga Schmid will serve as the representative of the P5+1 group in the talks.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry will most likely have a meeting in New York next Monday.

The new round of the talks between representatives from Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany - will start on Wednesday, and will last three days with the aim of drafting a final nuclear accord.

The two sides issued a joint statement outlining the parameters of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in Switzerland on April 2.

IA/HJL/HRB

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk