Kerry: No Iran Nuclear Deal Yet
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US Secretary of State John Kerry stated upon his arrival in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday that no agreement has yet been reached on Iran's nuclear program, and added that negotiators are trying to narrow the differences.
“I am delighted to be here at the invitation of Catherine Ashton to try to work with colleagues to see if we can narrow some differences… There are still some things on the table that are unresolved. I want to emphasize there is not an agreement at this point,” Kerry said on Friday evening on his arrival in Geneva, which hosts a series of tight nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the six major world powers.
The ongoing talks between Iran and the G5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France as well as Germany) over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program kicked off in Geneva on Thursday, November 7.
The negotiations are aimed at bringing the West’s standoff over the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear program to an end.
"(We) hope to try to narrow the differences but no-one should mistake that there are important gaps to be closed," John Kerry pointed out.
As diplomatic efforts are intensified to reach an agreement between Iran and the G5+1, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has also arrived in Geneva to attend the tight negotiations, raising hopes that an agreement may be under discussion.
Morover, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius have already joined the six powers talks with Iran earlier in the day.
John Kerry is also expected to hold a series of meetings, including a trilateral with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is not expected to attend the talks, but Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is in the Swiss city as Russia’s representative.
In the meantime, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi, who is also the country’s senior negotiator in the ongoing nuclear talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1, excluded the possibility that there will be a bilateral meeting between Iran’s foreign minister and his American counterpart.
