Zarif: Iran will not Kneel, Compromise on Nuclear Rights

Local Editor

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed that Iran was ready to take steps to ensure its nuclear program remains peaceful but would not "kneel in submission" to do a deal with major powers.

As talks to resolve the long-running nuclear standoff resumed in Vienna, Zarif's remarks, delivered in English in a slick five-minute video, appeared to be a response to a US warning that Tehran has yet to prove that its atomic ambitions are peaceful.

The sixth round of talks since February between Iran and the six powers formally gets under way in Vienna on Thursday morning, and on Wednesday Zarif met with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the six powers' lead negotiator, a US official said.

In the video, Zarif said a nuclear deal would make history, and Iran was "willing to take concrete measures to guarantee that our nuclear program will always remain peaceful".
But he added: "To those who continue to believe that sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table, I can only say that pressure has been tried for the past eight years, in fact for the past 35 years.

"It didn't bring the Iranian people to kneel in submission. And it will not now, nor in the future."
Iran and the six countries have been discussing ways to iron out their differences to achieve a final deal that would end the decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear energy program.

The two sides inked an interim accord in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 23, 2013. Under the deal, the six countries agreed to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.

The deal expires on July 20 but can be extended depending on the agreement of all parties involved.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team