Lawmaker Calls for Review of Iran-France Economic Ties
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian legislator said the best way to respond to France’s blocking of progress in the nuclear talks between Tehran and the six world powers is to conduct a review of Tehran-Paris economic relations.
“The best way of responding to such obstructionism is to review our interaction (with France) as much as possible,” Eliyas Taheri, member of the Iranian parliament’s Industries and Mines Commission, told Tasnim on Monday.
His comments came after French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio on Saturday that there were major stumbling blocks in an initial proposed text on a nuclear deal with Iran, despite optimism from other countries negotiating with Iran.
Iran and the G5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) wrapped up three days of intensive talks over Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva early on Sunday.
The tight negotiations, which started on Thursday, dragged into Sunday amid division among the G5+1 members.
Failing to agree on a deal, the sides have agreed to resume talks on November 20, again in Geneva.
The French minister poured cold water on hopes that a deal on Iran's nuclear program would be hammered out at Geneva talks. Fabius said there was "no certainty" of any agreement as there were "some points with which we are not satisfied".
"There is an initial draft that we don't accept... at the moment I have no certainty that we can reach a conclusion," the French minister said on Saturday morning.
And before a joint press conference between top negotiators representing Iran and the G5+1 early on Sunday, Fabius said the three days of negotiations had ended without a deal.
"The meetings in Geneva have made it possible to move forward... But we have not yet managed to conclude, because there are still some questions remaining to be dealt with," he said.
Declining to criticize his French counterpart, Iran's Foreign Minister and the country's chief negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif later said: “Obviously the six countries may have differences of views, but we are working together, and hopefully we will be able to reach an agreement when we meet again.”
