Iran Demands West Lift All Sanctions before Continuation of Nuclear Talks
“Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?” (Ezekiel 34:18)
image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/john-kerry-mohammed-zarif-iran-nuclear-talks.jpg
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry greets Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on March 20, 2015, in Lausanne, Switzerland, before their advisers resumed negotiations about the future of Iran’s nuclear program. (Photo : US Department of State)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is insisting that all Western-imposed sanctions be lifted before going ahead with a new round of nuclear talks with the P5+1.
A new round of negotiations is set to begin on Thursday as the Iranian preconditions are yet another sign of the ongoing struggle to reach a settlement on a framework agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
“This is what the government has insisted on from the very beginning,” Zarif said at the funeral of the mother of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the IRNA news agency said.
Zarif’s comments echo remarks made by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week, who demanded that any agreement to a nuclear deal will only be preceded by the immediate lifting of sanctions.
Negotiators involved in nuclear talks have stated that this particular precondition has been a major thorn during talks. A European negotiator told the media that Iran’s supreme leader is placing “a lot of pressure” on his team to remove the “insulting” sanctions.
“They (the Iranians) say it is a deal breaker,” a negotiator stated last week in Lausanne.
The first sanctions imposed on Iran were in the 1980s by the US. The UN began imposing sanctions in 2006 after increasing concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Western officials have said they are not willing to lift all sanctions, only suspend some of the measures put in place by the US and EU in phases.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Switzerland on Wednesday as negotiations reach the home stretch. While taking a cautious stance, US officials said they believe a deal is in sight by the March 31 deadline.
“We very much believe that we can get this done by the 31st. We see a path to do that,” a senior State Department official told reporters.
The official added that the last round of negotiations produced more progress than any other round of talks in the past.
“We can see a path forward here to get an agreement, we can see what that path might look like…that doesn’t mean we’ll get there,” the official stated. “We made more progress in the last round (last week) than we have made the previous rounds, which often happens once you’re getting closer to a deadline.”
image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/john-kerry-mohammad-zarif-iran-nuclear-talks.jpg
Britain’s foreign minister issued his own warning, saying Thursday that should negotiators fail to secure a deal with Iran, a nuclear arms race will explode across the Middle East.
“I remain clear that no deal is better than a bad deal. But we should also be clear-eyed about the alternative,” Foreign Minister Philip Hammond stated.
“No deal means no restrictions on enrichment, no restrictions on research and development, and no independent monitoring or verification. It means a fundamentally more unstable Middle East, with the prospect of a nuclear arms race in the region.”
Hammond said that Iran and the P5+1 will have to make “difficult decisions” to reach an agreement, but “now is the time, with our key allies, to build on the recent momentum, to press Iran where differences remain, and to strain every sinew to get a deal over the finishing line.”
“The door to a nuclear deal is open , but Iran must now step through it.”
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/34193/iran-threatening-walk-out-nuclear-talks-all-sanctions-lifted-middle-east/#r66MMW7JP4Ou5Zyt.99
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. Your comments are needed for helping to improve the discussion.