During the phone conversation, Araqchi and Schmidt expressed the hope that Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) “will reach an agreement” in their meeting in Geneva next week.
After three days of intensive talks from November 7 to 9, Iran and the Group 5+1 agreed to hold their next round of talks in Geneva on November 20-21.
Iran and the Group 5+1 discussed the contents of a three-section plan proposed by Iran in their last round of talks in Geneva. They also made progress in writing the draft of the final agreement.
Last Friday, Araqchi said the much expected agreement over the settlement of Iran-West nuclear standoff will not include a stop of Iran's enrichment activities, although he said size and form of Iran's enrichment could be touched in the final deal.
As expectations are high for the attainment of a deal between Iran and the six world powers, Araqchi said that the text of the expected agreement will include all the three sections of Iran’s proposed plan wherein the final goal and the elements of the first and last steps will be clearly mentioned, including the confidence-building measures.
“Once an agreement is reached on the text of the deal, the first step will begin and the text of a final statement will be finalized, then (Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad) Zarif and the EU foreign policy chief will hold a joint press conference," Araqchi said.
Araqchi underlined that the final statement, which will be on the basis of the agreement, will include confidence-building measures by the two sides.
“Enrichment is among the Iranian nation’s principles and basic rights, and Iran will not give up its rights, but we are ready to negotiate over the size, form and dimensions of enrichment,” he added.
