The nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers are based on mistrust between the two sides, top Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi stressed, adding that it makes ‘reversibility of commitments' the principal quality of a possible final deal.
"Reversibility is a major principle that both sides are considering. We are holding talks on the basis of mistrust, and this is a fact," Araqchi, also a deputy foreign minister, told reporters after a deputy-level round of negotiations in Vienna.
"We do not trust the other side at all, nor does the other side (trust us). Therefore, all arrangements in the (expected) agreement will be made in such a way that if each side feels the other one is breaching commitments, it will be able to turn back and do what it did before the deal," he said.
Araqchi also noted that a lasting agreement, whose text is being discussed in a tight schedule ahead of an end-June deadline, will contain a main text and up to five appendices.
One of the appendices deals with the anti-Iran sanctions, their details and the restrictions that will be lifted afterwards, he said.
The second appendix, Araqchi added, includes technical discussions and nuclear subjects, that is, "how the decisions and solutions reached in Lausanne will be implemented".
On April 2, Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached a framework nuclear agreement in Lausanne, Switzerland, with both sides committed to push for a final deal until the end of June.
Another appendix features the framework of "peaceful nuclear cooperation with Iran," Araqchi added.
It defines the fields of international cooperation with Iran, as in light-water reactors, power plants, research reactors, water desalination facilities, research and development (R&D), etc, he noted.
The fourth appendix will define the mechanism of a "joint commission", how it will work and what it will address, the Iranian diplomat stated.
And the final appendix, he went on to say, revolves around the "executive plan”, representing a time table for the measures that the two sides will have to take.
The final agreement's main text will have 20 pages, while the appendices might have 40 to 50 pages, each single word of which is open to debate and could be a sticking point, the top diplomat said.
