“It is now a good time for prudent negotiations. Put wisdom on the table and other options into your pocket,” Larijani said, addressing the western states.
Earlier this month, Larijani, in a meeting in Tehran with Head of the European parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iran Tarja Cronberg, underlined that the commitment of the six world powers to the Geneva deal will indicate the extent of West’s sincerity and honesty in dealing with Iran.
Larijani pointed to the lack of commitment of the western countries to their previous nuclear agreements with Iran, and said, “The way the western states treat the recent Geneva agreement will be a test of their honesty towards Iran.”
He reiterated that the West should avoid repeating its previous mistakes in dealing with Iran.
The Iranian parliament speaker pointed to the US fresh sanctions against Tehran, and said, “Continuation of such behaviors in the next stages can create important problems.”
Cronberg, for her part, voiced her satisfaction with the agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany), and expressed the hope that confidence-building would pave the ground for the attainment of a final agreement between Iran and the world powers.
On November 24, Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members sealed the six-month Joint Plan of Action to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.
In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Sextet of world powers agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and continue talks with the country to settle all problems between the two sides.
Iran and the six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) had an expert meeting in Vienna, Austria, on December 9. The negotiations were scheduled to continue until December 13, but the Iranian negotiators cut short the talks and returned to Iran in protest at the US breach of the Geneva agreement by blacklisting a dozen companies and individuals for evading Washington’s sanctions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to soothe Tehran’s anger over Washington’s fresh sanctions in a phone call to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif Monday night.
Speaking to reporters after the phone conversation between the two top diplomats, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said, “The phone call was initiated by the US secretary of state.”
Afkham, who was speaking to reporters during a weekly press conference on Tuesday, told reporters that during the phone talk "he (Kerry) was informed of Iran’s dissatisfaction with the trend of the experts' plan and the details of the implementation of the Joint Plan of Action (the Geneva agreement)”.
Earlier this month, Zarif deplored Washington's recent move, and said Tehran would show a well-assessed and goal-oriented reaction to any measure adopted by the world powers in violation of the deal.
“The Americans have taken improper measures in the last few days and we have given the appropriate response to them after considering all aspects of the issue,” Zarif said.
He stressed that Tehran is seriously pursuing the Geneva negotiations with the G5+1, “and we will, of course, show proper, well-assessed, targeted and smart reaction to any improper and unconstructive measure (of the opposite side even if it doesn’t violate the Geneva agreement)”.
