Iran's Top Negotiator Says No Obscure Issue in Geneva Deal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted that nothing has been kept in the dark about a breakthrough nuclear deal between Tehran and the six major world powers, noting that the accord offers a clear explanation of all the matters.
There is no covert issue in the nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany), Zarif said on Saturday, adding that all the issues have been specified clearly and explicitly in the deal.
The Iranian foreign minister made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Senegalese counterpart Mankeur Ndiaye, here in Tehran.
Zarif’s comments were apparently made in response to a recent White House summary of the technical details of the Geneva nuclear deal.
On Thursday, the White House released a four-page summary of the November 24 deal on Iran’s nuclear program based on which the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to freeze parts of its nuclear activities and to allow more inspection of its nuclear facilities.
Also in relevant comments on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham dismissed the White House summary as a one-sided account of the Geneva deal, and added that the statement was “a unilateral and one-sided interpretation of the recent unofficial agreements reached between experts from Iran and the G5+1.”
Elsewhere in the press conference, Foreign Minister Zarif pointed to the upcoming Geneva 2 peace conference on Syria, and once again stressed that Iran is ready to attend the gathering without precondition.
The Senegalese minister, for his part, said that Dakar is carefully monitoring the developments in Syria.
The much delayed Geneva 2 conference on Syria is set to be held in the Swiss city of Montreux on January 22.
The conference would bring representatives from Syria's government and elements of the opposition to negotiate an end to the fighting that has raged on since March 2011.
Geneva 2 is the second sequel of Geneva 1 conference held in June 2012 in which international parties laid out a peace plan for Syria that calls for a transitional governing body. It left open the question of whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power.
The final communiqué issued on 30 June 2012, following the meeting of the so-called Action Group for Syria called for an immediate cessation of violence and the establishment of a transitional government that could include officials serving under President Bashar al-Assad and members of the opposition.
Iranian officials have on different occasions rejected any precondition for the country’s attendance at the long-awaited Geneva 2 conference.
