 Iran's top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani warned on Sunday that the Islamic state would quit key talks with the European Union on its nuclear program if it was clear no progress was being made.
| That tells me he thinks he's negotiating from a position of strength... |
Iran-EU nuke talks, set to begin in Brussels tomorrow, are aimed at reaching an agreement with Iran's to halt all its uranium enrichment-related activities that have stirred the international community's fears that the Islamic republic was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. The negotiations will focus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, reached between Tehran and the EU on Nov. 7, in which the European big three promised a wholesale of offers on trade and nuclear technology in return for Iran's promise to fully suspend its uranium enrichment activities. "We will continue the negotiations for as long as they are progressing," Mr. Rowhani told the official news agency IRNA before he leaves for the Brussels where the talks will be held. "If at any point that our negotiations are not progressing, we will stop them. The end of these three months of negotiations will indicate to us which point we have reached," added Mr. Rowhani.
| "We've reached an 'agreement.' The next step will be to hold talks on the implementation of the 'agreement.' If in this phase of the talks on the 'agreement' the other side doesn't agree to preface each verb in the document with the word 'not', then we simply won't keep the 'agreement,' even though we've already 'agreed.' Simple, huh?" |
On the other hand, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said that working groups including officials from Iran and the EU would be formed by next week and positive steps would be taken to settle the remaining issues after the Brussels meeting. "Iran and the three European countries (Britain, France and Germany) are going to set the framework for Iran's future nuclear activities during the talks in Brussels on Monday," Asefi said. Iran agreed on the suspension on Nov. 22 accordingly, and the International Atomic Energy Agency on Nov. 29 said it won't refer Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council and urged Iran and the EU to implement the Paris agreement. The United States claims that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, however, Tehran has repetitively rejected those claims, saying that its nuclear program is only used for peaceful purposes. Mr. Rowhani is to meet the British, French and German foreign ministers on Monday in a steering committee conference on the sidelines of an EU ministerial gathering. |