Nuclear Standoff Resolvable with Sextet Real Determination

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the current standoff over Tehran's civilian nuclear work could be resolved soon in case six world powers engaged in talks with the Islamic Republic show real determination.

“If there is a real determination in the opposite side for the resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue, a final result can be reached in the shortest possible time,” Zarif said.

The remarks come as Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain – plus Germany have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal that would end the West’s dispute with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program.

Zarif noted that no one in Iran will give up the obvious rights of the Iranian people due to unfair sanctions, adding that the Islamic Republic has been slapped with “the toughest sanctions in the contemporary history."

The minister also said Iran will not allow the Western countries to portray a wrong picture of Iran over its peaceful nuclear work.

“This is while the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on its politico-Islamic beliefs, has never sought [to develop] nuclear weapons and such weapons have no place in our military doctrine and we strictly disagree with the development and stockpile of nuclear bomb by any country, and we believe that all countries should be denuclearized,” Zarif added.

Iran’s nuclear negotiating team will head to New York on Tuesday for the next round of talks with Sextet of world powers, a top Iranian diplomat says.

The Iranian negotiating team will be headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi, himself a negotiator, said.

Araqchi said the negotiations will start on Wednesday with a working lunch between Zarif and Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief and representative of the six powers.

“Moreover, bilateral meetings will be held between Iran and the members of the P5+1 on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning,” he said.

“On Thursday afternoon, plenary talks between Iran and the P5+1 members will be held,” the Iranian negotiator added.

Araqchi noted that the schedule for the meeting of the foreign ministers of Iran and the Sextet has not been determined yet.