Russian Envoy Upbeat on Iran Nuclear Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russia’s ambassador to Tehran said on Saturday he had high expectations for the diplomatic efforts to hammer out a final deal on Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
“Russia is optimistic about the results of negotiations and we will put all efforts to make the talks yield results,” Levan Jagarian said in a meeting with Iranian lawmaker, Kazem Jalali, in Tehran on Saturday.
The envoy also stressed that Moscow will never let the other issues, such as Russia’s disagreement with the West on Ukraine and Syria, influence the course of talks on Iran’s nuclear case.
For his part, Jalali, who chairs an Iranian parliamentary group in contact with the European Parliament, said he was not pessimistic about the nuclear talks.
“Iran has in the recent negotiations taken its positive steps and it is now the (Group) 5+1’s turn to show good will in the talks,” the Iranian MP said.
Iran and the G5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) are in talks to hammer out a final deal to end a decade of impasse over Tehran’s civilian nuclear work.
On November 24, 2013, the two sides signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The Geneva deal (the Joint Plan of Action) came into effect in January and expired in July, when the parties decided to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal that would end a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
Meanwhile, the parties are preparing for a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement on November 18 in Vienna.
