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11/02/2024 01:25:47 pm

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Iran Pushes for Progress in Negotiations for Nuclear Program

Mohammad Javad Zarif

(Photo : REUTERS/LEONHARD FOEGER) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L), Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) and EU envoy Catherine Ashton pose for photographers before a meeting in Vienna November 22, 2014.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister of Iran, said last Sunday that Tehran did not want another extension of the talks limiting their nuclear programs, stressing that the expected economic sanctions should be lifted if an official agreement was reached.

At a security conference in Munich, Zarif said sanctions are a liability and that a solution can only be reached if they are dealt away with. He also says that an opportunity has presented itself for making an agreement, and it must be seized.

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These nuclear talks have already been extended twice. The deadline for the main outlines of the agreement is in March, while the deadline for the detailed agreement falls in the end of June.

Iran might just get its wish, as a Republican-led Congress makes an extension of talks a political impossibility in the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has already met twice with Zarif. They have been making an intense effort to negotiate and reach an agreement.

During talks last Sunday, Zarif said that he was willing to accept a negotiation that did not work to undermine that interests of his nation. This would be an important gesture of support to Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a speech that their negotiators are trying to take the weapon of sanctions away from the enemy.

"If they can, so much the better," Khamenei said in a speech quoted by Iran's official news agency (IRNA). "If they fail, everyone should know there are many ways at our disposal to dull this weapon."

On the Western front, negotiators who are dealing with Iran are optimistic about reaching an agreement good for all. However, they are still concerned about the hostility to a deal from politicians in both Iran and the United States, with Congress aware of the opposition in Israel and discussing further sanctions in Iran.

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