Moscow sees progress in Iran talks, admits no outlines of final agreement visible
MOSCOW/VIENNA. March 20 (Interfax) - Moscow notes progress in negotiations on the Iran nuclear issue and believes it is realistic to draw up an agreement on its final settlement by July 20, although no outlines of the agreement are perceptible so far, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a telephone interview with Interfax from Vienna.
Another round of negotiations at the level of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, with the P5+1 political directors' participation, ended in Vienna on Wednesday. The Geneva accords stipulate that the parties should draw up a final settlement agreement by July 20.
"We have progressed quite well, the atmosphere is very good, and the work is business-like and result-oriented. But saying that we have the outlines of an agreement now would be encroaching upon the truth. There are none," Ryabkov said.
Asked how realistic it is to attain the goal by July 20, Ryabkov said, "I don't see any reasons to say that this deadline could be shifted and that this schedule is becoming unrealizable. There are no reasons for this so far."
Ryabkov called on all negotiators to intensify their efforts, "especially as concerns the search for practical solutions and decisions rather than just elaborating approaches and airing some technical, political, or organizational details of what we are doing now."
"We should simply focus on looking for a basis for a compromise in all areas," he said.
The negotiations in Vienna this time around addressed four sets of issues, i.e. sanctions, prospects of uranium enrichment activities in Iran, prospects of the development of peaceful nuclear cooperation with Iran, and the future of a heavy-water reactor in Arak, he said.
"This discussion has assumed a very serious dimension at the political level, at the level of Ashton-Zarif and the political directors, and the degree to which each of these four sets of issues was elaborated was unprecedented," Ryabkov said.
The full version of Ryabkov's interview will be available later on www.interfax.com.
