“The best way for the West is to pay attention to the reality that the measures it has taken so far to pressurize and impose sanctions on Iran have been futile,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday night upon his arrival in the Omani capital of Muscat for a trilateral meeting on Iran’s nuclear case.
Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU's Negotiator on Iran Catherine Ashton are planned to hold a two-day gathering in Muscat on Sunday and Monday for nuclear talks.
“It is necessary that we reach a solution on the basis of (mutual) respect and cooperation. The best approach for the West is to be mindful of the fact about futility of the sanctions,” the top Iranian diplomat reiterated.
Zarif then made it clear that should the West be willing to opt for that procedure, reaching a final, comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s civilian nuclear work will be possible before a November 24 deadline.
The trilateral meeting in Muscat is a prelude to another round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), slated for November 18 in Vienna.
The forthcoming talks are seen as a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement by November 24.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the six nations 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 lasting accord.