Rouhani: Iran remains insistent on rights and achieves results in talks with powers

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed that the talks between Tehran and the world powers will finally yield results without Iran's withdrawal from its rights and stances. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has never wanted to lie to the world and it doesn't have any such intention today either," Rouhani said, addressing high-ranking road ministry officials and managers in Tehran on Monday. "The Islamic Republic of Iran's goal is (accessing and using) the civilian nuclear technology and (the country) will pursue this goal and the people's right; yet in the meantime, it wants to reach a common understanding in the process of the talks which serves the interests of all sides," continued the president. "Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Iranian nation is fearful of the sanctions; this nation will resist in any condition; what matters for the government is the interests of the people, the Revolution and the national security of the country," he underlined. Referring to the talks underway between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany), the latest round of which ended in Vienna on Friday without any results, Rouhani said, "God willing, the negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 will finally lead to an agreement since agreement and a win-win game will serve the interests of all."Iran and the Sextet of powers wrapped up their fourth round of talks in Vienna on Friday. The seven nations have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal that would end the West’s dispute with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program. Iran says there has been no tangible progress in writing the draft text of the agreement and it blamed the US for the failure, saying Washington has made excessive demands beyond the agreements made in the previous rounds of talks. On Friday, an official close to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team criticized the West for pursuing unreasonable and “excessive demands” during the talks. A few hours later and after three days of talks, Iran's deputy chief negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi said on Friday evening that the Vienna nuclear talks with the world powers would continue until achievement of results, but meantime reiterated that Iran would not accept a discussion of its defense program and will only agree to a deal which respects its rights. Speaking to reporters after three days of intensive negotiations with the delegations of the six world powers in Vienna on Friday night, Araqchi, also a deputy foreign minister, said, "No tangible results were made, but talks will continue." The deputy chief negotiator said Iran will not retreat. "We stand firm on our rights. We will have 6 more months if we fail to work out a deal by July 20." He said Iran will not allow a discussion of its missile or defense program in the nuclear talks. "Our defense equipment can no way go under discussion in the negotiations." Araqchi stressed that Iran is not in a rush to push the talks into a final phase of concluding an agreement at any price. "There is no push to obtain an agreement by July 20 at any price." "We (only) concede to an agreement which will be in line with our interests, meet our demands and establish the Iranian nation's rights," he continued. "We hope that the talks continue in a logical, rational and realistic manner and yield result within the deadline." On November 24, Iran and the Group 5+1 sealed a six-month Joint Plan of Action to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over the latter's nuclear energy program. In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the sextet of the world powers agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and impose no nuclear-related sanctions on Iran during the six-month period. Following the breakthrough interim agreement, Iran and the sextet accepted to send their senior negotiating teams to monthly meetings to discuss a final and comprehensive deal until July. If the seven nations fail to agree on a final deal by then, the Geneva interim agreement will be extended for another 6 months. Since the November agreement, the seven delegations have met several times, including the last round in Vienna on April 8 and 9. At the beginning of the last round of the talks on April 8, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement reiterating that its team of negotiators would not discuss any topic but the country's nuclear standoff with the West in its talks with the six world powers. This round of the talks was the first Iran-powers meeting focused on drafting a final deal.