Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will not take part in an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany) and Iran, a senior Russian official announced on Friday.

"Lavrov will accompany Russian President Vladimir Putin in his visits to the Latin American states," ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Russian Permanent Representative in International Organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov as saying.

Voronkov said that the foreign ministerial meeting of Iran-G5+1 will open in Vienna on Sunday.

On Thursday, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton invited the G5+1 foreign minister to attend the foreign ministerial meeting in the Austrian capital on Sunday.

Heading the Iranian negotiating team, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has been in Vienna since the beginning of the talks.

The sixth round of talks between Tehran and the G5+1 headed by the Iranian foreign minister and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton officially started in Vienna last week to draft a final deal between the two sides.

In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Zarif reiterated the Iranian nation's inalienable right to develop peaceful nuclear technology, and said Tehran will never strike a deal with the six world powers which ignores or undermines its rights.

"We do not accept to reach a solution at all costs as we insist on our rights while trying to find an acceptable, logical and long-term solution," Zarif said in Vienna.

Asked about the future of negotiations between Iran and the world powers, he responded, "I hope that the other side will be ready to see the realities, take our word seriously and accept that the Iranian nation has never withdrawn under pressure."

He noted that the best way for dialogue with the Iranian nation is through respecting and trying to reach mutual understanding with them.

"If they come to this conclusion, which we hope to happen in the coming days, reaching a solution will be possible," Zarif said.
 

News ID 186876