The spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the presence of the AEOI director in the recent nuclear talks between Iran and the United States helped quicken the pace of discussions on technical aspects of a prospective final deal to resolve the long-running dispute over Tehran's nuclear work.
"The presence of AEOI Director Ali Akbar Salehi and US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz accelerated the technical work, and this speed can affect the whole process of negotiations," Behrouz Kamalvandi said in an interview with IRNA on Sunday.
He also said, "The resolution of the technical issues will speed up the progress of the negotiations, but the nuclear talks are not only about technicalities, and there are also legal and political matters," adding, "In terms of technicalities, good progress was made, but we should see where we can reach in other areas."
Iranian and US delegations, including Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry, held a series of bilateral talks in the Swiss cities of Montreux and Geneva over the past few weeks in an effort to narrow differences on the terms of a long-term nuclear settlement to help advance the broader talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), which are aimed at reaching a final agreement by the self-imposed June 30 deadline.
Salehi had said on Saturday that the recent meetings with US officials helped remove "technical roadblocks" in the nuclear talks.
"We had reached a deadlock in the technical discussions in some way, and the higher ranking officials of the system decided that I take part in the talks in person and hold talks with the highest ranking official of the other side, namely the US secretary of energy, to discuss details," he said.
"Fortunately, the two meetings (in Geneva and Montreux) were very useful and we took good steps."
Elsewhere, he said the technical aspects regarding the uranium enrichment program, the Arak heavy water reactor, the nuclear research and development program and the Fordo enrichment facility and some other less important issues came up for discussion in the meetings.
