"Decision-making in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the redlines which have been stated by the Supreme Leader on the nuclear issue in the final stage, have been specified through completely consultative and populist mechanisms and through the elites' consensus. These redlines have not been created by a specific thought, rather they have been adopted through a consensus among the elites of all different parties of the country," Araqchi said in an interview with the Iranian Supreme Leader's website, Khamenei.ir.
"Of course, this path has, in fact, been paved by the hearty resistance of the people and their standing against all sanctions and pressures imposed by the West and with the wise leadership of Supreme Leader in a way that the Islamic Republic of Iran has now reached self-belief and self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel which is almost the most sensitive part of the nuclear industry. Therefore, the high-ranking management of the Islamic Republic decided that it can enter the negotiations full-handedly to prevent more costs," he added.
Araqchi described the Iran-West nuclear standoff as a clash of wills, from which Iran has come out victorious.
"Tehran didn’t want to withdraw from its positions and the enemy wanted a full suspension of the country's enrichment program but Iran opposed it and gained victory," he added.
He underlined that this resistance continued to the point that the enemies also admitted that the Islamic Republic of Iran can continue enrichment and agreed that enrichment would be a part of any deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany).
His remarks came as Iran and the six major world powers have already held 8 rounds of nuclear negotiations after inking an interim agreement in Geneva in 2013, and have less than three weeks time to strike a final deal before the November 24 deadline.
Tehran and the six powers have already held seven rounds of talks in Vienna, and one more round in New York and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. They are now preparing for their 9th round of negotiations due to be held in Oman on November 11. On Sunday morning, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, his US counterpart John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held a trilateral meeting in Masqat.
The Geneva agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later on July 20. In July, Tehran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 after they failed to reach an agreement on a number of key issues.