Brussels, 06/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The E3+3 (Germany, France, United Kingdom and China, United States, Russia), and Iran will meet again in Geneva on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 November to discuss the Iranian nuclear programme. On 5 November, Iran's Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif, believed that it “is possible to reach this agreement [on the nuclear programme] this week but I can only speak from our point of view. I can't speak for the other side”. Saying an agreement was not so far away, Zarif stated that the issues on which both sides need to change position have been identified. “The necessary adjustments must be made and we must move on. We can conclude in Geneva this week - and if that is not the case, it is not a disaster as we are moving forwards”, he stated. “We have made progress but there is still much suspicion in Iran about the behaviour and approach of some members of the 5+1 group (China, US, France, UK, Russia and Germany)”, he said. Distrust between the two parties currently reigns. Zarif said he did not trust the Western countries.
Various Iranian politicians have spoken before the meeting of their optimism or, by contrast, of their pessimism about the possibility of an agreement. The EU has proved very discreet. After the previous round of negotiations on 15-16 October, a high-level Western diplomat stressed that, while the discussions had been “substantial”, and while the West was more reassured than before, “this does not mean that we are close to a solution and that we will have an agreement next month”. “The differences remain very large in terms of what the measures should include”, he added. “Encouraging signs can be observed in the work on resolving the situation on the Iranian nuclear programme. We hope that all the participants in the negotiating process will prove their political resolve and their readiness to find a compromise”, said Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton told EUROPE that “the discussions are complex and have entered a serious phase”. “We now want to begin discussions on the content so as to move towards an agreement”, said Iran's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi, stating that “any initiative that does not include the sanctions being lifted is not acceptable for Iran”. In an interview on Israeli television the previous day, the US negotiator, Wendy Sherman, said that her country was ready for a very limited, temporary and reversible lifting of the sanctions, while maintaining the fundamental architecture of the bank and oil sanctions, which would be needed for an overall agreement (our translation throughout). (CG/transl.fl)