2nd Day of Nuclear Talks Resumes in Oman: Iran Firm Not to Abandon Rights
Local Editor
Iran, the United States and European Union started an unscheduled second day of talks on Monday on disagreements blocking resolution of a dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, a US official and Iranian state media said.
With two weeks to a deadline for a comprehensive accord, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton met in Oman's capital Muscat on Sunday to address the Iranian nuclear program.
Reiterating Iran's official line, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top aide to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, was quoted by Iranian media as saying the Islamic Republic would not abandon its nuclear "rights" but was committed to the negotiations under Imam Khamenei's leadership.
Iran denies any secret nuclear weapons agenda, saying it wants peaceful nuclear energy only, but has refused to curb enrichment capacity and has been hit by US, EU and UN Security Council sanctions as a result.
The negotiations at the hotel appeared to be intense. The Iranian, US and European delegations met from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm local time, broke for lunch and consultations, and then resumed three-way talks just before 6 pm.
Both US and Iranian officials said the discussions would continue on Monday, past the time when some of the participants were due to have left.
"Talks will continue in the morning," a US official said.
"Talks between Kerry, Zarif and Ashton ... will continue on Monday, to narrow the gaps and reach a comprehensive deal by the Nov. 24 deadline," the official IRNA news agency reported.
Omani Foreign Minister Youssef bin Alawi gave reporters an upbeat assessment of the talks. "By the level of commitment all parties are showing, we feel comfortable," he said. "There is no going back ... I feel that all parties are positively willing to reach an agreement."
As Kerry arrived in Oman, a senior US official said the three-way talks would be "an important meeting," with the focus on making progress in order to meet the deadline.
US officials say major gaps still remain in negotiating positions.
Speaking to Iranian state television on his arrival in the Omani capital Muscat on Saturday night, Zarif reiterated that sanctions imposed on Iran had brought "no result" for the West.
"If the West is interested in reaching such a solution, there is possibility to find a solution and to reach an understanding before November 24," he said.
Quoted by Iranian student news agency ISNA in Tehran, Velayati said Iran "will not abandon our rights" over nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Arak as well over the size of its centrifuge program that enriches uranium for nuclear fuel.
"We are committed to the talks and our negotiators are acting based on a framework ... outlined by the leader," he was quoted as saying.
A senior Iranian official close to the talks told Reuters the Oman talks would examine "the gaps that are still huge, Iran's enrichment capacity and time frame of lifting sanctions."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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