VIENNA: The three-day talks between Iran and the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany aimed at drafting a final comprehensive deal on Tehran’s nuclear energy program ended without making any progress in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
The fourth and final round of talks ended after failing to reach any conclusion to the decade-old dispute related to Iran’s nuclear program.
In a statement, the Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said that the nuclear talks with the world powers will continue until achievement of results.
“It doesn’t mean we are disappointed. It doesn’t mean that we have failed. No, we will continue our negotiations. This was the first round of real negotiations. In previous rounds of negotiations, we had only brainstorming sessions. The goal of this round was to draft an agreement. We feel that differences are still there and we should wait for the time when we can start drafting, when the positions are closer together,” Araqchi said.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are working to hammer out a comprehensive deal following the interim accord that was reached in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24 last year and went into force on January 20, 2014.
Under the Geneva deal, the six countries pledged to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for the Islamic Republic agreeing to scale down certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.
