“On the basis of the understandings (between Iran and the world powers) all sanctions, including unilateral, multilateral and the UN Security Council sanctions should be removed and if not, it would be meaningless for us to take confidence-building measures while sanctions have remained in place,” Takht Ravanchi told FNA on Sunday.
He stressed that Iran "has some redlines which must be respected".
"We should see if they (the six world powers) share a single view or not," the negotiator said, but added, "Of course, taking into account what (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov has stated, it seems that they are not united."
He said in the last round of talks in Geneva earlier this month, the representative of one of the world powers added so many revisions to Iran's proposal that actually made it impossible for Iranian negotiators to accept the final version.
"From their point of view, the latest text (of the talks) will set the agenda for the upcoming meeting, but (Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad) Zarif has declared to them in his last meeting with the Group 5+1 (ministers) that we cannot at all confine ourselves to this text."
In similar remarks earlier this month, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi once again underlined that removal of sanctions is the Iranian nation’s main demand and a key to end the standoff between Tehran and the West.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear measures and activities are completely clear, without any ambiguities and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” Boroujerdi said in a meeting with Norwegian Ambassador to Iran Jens Petter Kjemprud.
Boroujerdi referred to the nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, France, China and Britain plus Germany), and said, “Recognizing the Iranian nation’s right to have peaceful nuclear energy and removal of the cruel unilateral sanctions imposed by the West against the Iranian nation are among the expectations of our public opinion from the future negotiations with the G5+1.”
Senior Iranian officials have reiterated that any further progress in the talks with the G5+1 would depend on the world powers' proper response in the upcoming round of talks in Geneva.
“The era of talks-for-talks has ended and we look at the negotiations with pragmatic optimism to see how the other sides will respond to Iran’s proposals,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran.
Iran and the six world powers agreed in their third session of talks on October 15 to follow up on the nuclear negotiations on November 7 and 8.
The two sides did not reach an agreement but stressed that significant progress had been made and expressed optimism about the prospect of a possible deal in the future. They decided to continue their discussions on November 20.
Meanwhile, all diplomats present in Geneva had stressed that there has been progress in the nuclear talks with Iran.
When after a day of progressive negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who presides over the delegations of the six world powers in the talks with Iran, called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to rush to Geneva to go a few more miles because a deal was possible, Israeli premier started hues and cries to stop the deal.
Then, Netanyahu “utterly” denounced the possible agreement in the course of the nuclear talks as “very, very bad”.
Kerry rushed to Tel Aviv to soothe Benjamin Netanyahu's concerns, but he apparently failed. The debates between the two grew so unfriendly that Kerry even excused himself from taking photos with Netanyahu, saying he has a tight schedule and should rush to Geneva.
Then Netanyahu made more ballyhoos making US President Barack Obama contact him to alleviate his concerns.
Unsatisfied with Obama's explanations, the Israeli prime minister called the French asking them to go to Geneva to stop the agreement.
Then, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who was not invited to the Geneva talks, called Ashton urging that he needed to be present there. Surprised Ashton was then forced to call in Fabius's British and German counterparts to the talks as well.
Fabius appeared on several media and warned that Israel’s “concerns” must be taken into consideration.
“It is necessary to take fully into account Israel’s security concerns and those of the region,” Fabius told France Inter radio in Geneva last weekend at the beginning of the third day of talks between Iran and the world powers.
Analysts believe that Israel, the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle-East with 200-400 warheads, fears a rapprochement between Iran and the US, its main ally.
