Iran, P5+1 Face Daunting Task in Vienna N-talks

Representatives of Iran and the P5+1 group face “the daunting task” of narrowing their differences in the upcoming nuclear talks in the Austrian capital city of Vienna.

Experts from Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany – aka P5+1 -on Thursday ended their latest round of talks in New York, which were held on the sidelines of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), said Hamid Baeidinejad, who also serves as the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s director general for political affairs.

In this round of the negotiations in New York, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held important talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, Baeidinejad added in a message on his Instagram account.

The official also noted that the two sides held nine days of deputy-level and eleven days of expert-level talks, adding that this round of negotiations took some 200 hours in total.

The next round of negotiations is aimed at reducing the gaps and agreeing on issues of difference, Baeidinejad said.

The two sides are set to start the next round of four-day talks on Tuesday in Vienna at deputy and expert levels, he said.

The senior negotiator added that Iran and the P5+1 countries held “good and useful” talks, particularly on drafting a final nuclear deal, adding that there are still many gaps to deal with.

Iran and the P5+1 group reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.

They agreed to finalize a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear program by the end of June.

Iran can reciprocate US bill, says Boroujerdi

On the  other hand, a senior Iranian lawmaker says Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) will adopt retaliatory measures if sanctions against the country are not lifted as a result of the US Senate’s recent bill that can potentially enable Congress to review and reject a final deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

“If the Americans seek to act against the Islamic Republic’s demand for the cancellation of all sanctions concurrently with a final deal, the Islamic Republic of Iran also will not accept the deal,” Chairman of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi told ISNA.

He added that Majlis would oblige the Iranian government to proceed with all its previous nuclear activities.

The Iranian legislator further said, “Although the Americans are under an illusion about all the regional issues and act accordingly, they should realize that on the nuclear issue, the [entire] group of P5+1 countries is our opposite side.”

Boroujerdi’s comments came after the US Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed legislation which will make it possible for Congress to review and potentially reject a final deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

The bill gives Congress 30 days to review a final nuclear deal after Iran and the P5+1 countries reach such an agreement,and during that time bars President Barack Obama from temporarily waiving any US sanctions on Iran that were passed by Congress.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — reached a mutual understanding on the parameters of a comprehensive agreement over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 2.

Iran and the six-party group have agreed to finalize a comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear program by the end of June.

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