Former IAEA Chief Optimistic about Talks between Iran, World Powers
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Hans Blix expressed the hope that the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers would lead to a final agreement.
In a Sunday meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Blix welcomed the interim Geneva agreement signed between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
Blix, who currently heads Sweden’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, also expressed the hope that both sides would honor their obligations under the possible final deal.
During the meeting, Zarif, who is also Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said that a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program should guarantee the country’s “inalienable” right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
He also said any final nuclear accord with the G5+1 should also create the opportunity for Iran to exercise its “inalienable” right to use peaceful nuclear energy.
The Iranian foreign minister further described “mutual mistrust” as the main obstacle that used to stand in the way of nuclear talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3).
Representatives of Iran and the Group 5+1 wrapped up the latest round of their nuclear talks in Vienna on April 9. They will meet again in Vienna on May 13.
During the forthcoming round of talks, the parties will start drafting the text of a final agreement to end the decade-long standoff on Iran’s nuclear case.
The two sides on November 24, 2013, clinched an interim six-month deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The breakthrough deal (the Joint Plan of Action), which has come into effect since January 20, stipulates that over the course of six months, Iran and the six countries will draw up a comprehensive nuclear deal which will lead to a lifting of the whole sanctions on Iran.
