MP: G5+1 Played Coordinated Scenario in Geneva Talks


MP: G5+1 Played Coordinated Scenario in Geneva Talks

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker said on Tuesday that the six world powers’ moves in their Geneva nuclear talks with Iran were harmonized in advance in a scenario in which the bad cop’s role had been given to the French foreign minister.

“The moves made by the US, Israel and France in the latest round of nuclear talks had been coordinated and each was playing its own role. Of course, France had to play the bad cop as Israel had asked it to do so," Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani, member of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told the Tasnim News Agency on Tuesday.

This comes as many blame the French for the failure of the negotiating sides in Geneva to reach an interim deal on Iran's nuclear program.

However, Bakhshayesh is hopeful that negotiators from Iran and the G5+1 would manage to iron out the remaining differences and clinch a deal that could address the remaining misunderstandings.

"To me the outlook for such talks is positive. It shows the resolve of Iran and the West to solve the existing problems... The western countries are trying, for various reasons, to show that they have relented and Iran is quite transparent," he added.

On the outlines of a possible deal between Iran and the G5+1 Bakhshayesh said: "They want us to suspend enriching uranium to 20 percent purity and neuter the existing stockpile of the fissile material. They also expect us to close the heavy-water research reactor in Arak, in central Iran; these are the first demands they have for confidence building. In return, we want them to remove all the sanctions and to refer our nuclear case from the UN Security Council back to the International Atomic Energy Agency. We are busy bargaining over these issues and to take such steps we need to negotiate between six months to one year." 

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 in early Sunday.

Failing to close a deal, the sides have agreed to resume talks on November 20, again in Geneva.

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.

"We are hoping for a deal, but for the moment there are still issues that have not been resolved,” he told France Inter radio.

French Foreign Minister also pre-empted a press conference by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton by speaking first, just outside the hotel where all the delegations had been meeting.

Fabius unilaterally announced that the ministers had failed to reach a deal and said that more work needed to be done.

In related remarks, a top Iranian lawmaker said on Tuesday that a planned “hefty arms deal” between Saudi Arabia and France was the main reason behind Paris’ disruptive role in the course of nuclear talks between Iran and the six powers." 

“Undoubtedly, the stonewalling by France has its roots in a hefty arms deal with Saudi Arabia,” said member of Majlis Presiding Board Abdolreza Mesri in a Tuesday interview.
The Iranian lawmaker argued that France seeks to curry favor with Saudi Arabia given its dire economic situation, saying, “Therefore, France has become the mouthpiece of the reactionaries and the Zionist regime (Israel) in the course of the recent talks.”

 

Most Visited in Nuclear
Top Nuclear stories
Top Stories