Geneva Talks: Progress in Face of Differences, Says Mann
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – As a hectic day of diplomacy in Geneva is drawing to a close, there is still hope the sides can strike a deal, with the spokesperson for the EU’s top diplomat saying the talks are proceeding despite difference of opinion.
In an exclusive interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Michael Mann, the European Union foreign policy chief’s spokesman, said the talks are going on and that there has been progress despite differences between negotiating parties.
Negotiations on an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program ran into headwinds on Saturday after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said his country did not accept the initial draft hammered out by the negotiating sides.
"There is an initial draft that we don't accept ... at the moment I have no certainty that we can reach a conclusion," the French minister said on Saturday morning.
Asked why Paris has refused to agree to the draft deal, Mann said that France has its own stances.
Catherine Ashton'e spokesman also said that the Chinese foreign minister is expected to join the other six minister present in the talks and that he might have a meeting with his counterparts and Ashton, who oversees policy on behalf of the G5+1.
The talks which were initially supposed to last for two days were extended into Saturday after signs that an agreement on Iran's nuclear program was within reach.
Sudden progress in meetings between Iran and the group of nations known alternatively as the G5+1, P5+1 or EU3+3 -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany -- comes after years of stalemate between western nations and Iran over its nuclear program.
