President Hassan Rouhani has said a "courageous decision" should be taken to finalize the talks between Iran and the major powers on Tehran's nuclear program.
Speaking at a news conference in New York on Friday, the president said, "Iran and the P5+1 have made considerable progress over the past year and we managed to reach a short-term agreement in Geneva, namely the Joint Plan of Action, despite all the differences."
Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) clinched a landmark interim nuclear deal last November in Geneva. They failed to meet a July target date to strike a final deal and agreed to extend the talks and the Geneva agreement until November 24.
"(Just before the expiration of the Geneva accord,) we again agreed to extend the agreement, but now I suppose, after 12 years of ups and downs, we must look forward to the future and take a courageous decision in this regard," he said.
Rouhani described sanctions as an ineffective tool and said, “Iran will never abandon its legitimate peaceful (nuclear) activities, and enrichment will continue within Iranian territory,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
“Any agreement which disregards the right to continue enrichment on Iranian soil is not acceptable to us.”
Rouhani reiterated that Iran will continue its nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency and within the framework of international regulations.
“The remaining time for (working out) a final agreement is limited and the progress made over the past few days was very slow. With respect to the current situation, we need to act quickly to reach an agreement,” he said in reference to the most recent round of nuclear talks with the major powers in New York which ended on Friday.
He stressed that an agreement will not only be beneficial to Iran and the P5+1, but it will also bear fruitful results for the stability and security of the region.
The president emphasized that all the sanctions imposed on Iran should be lifted under a final nuclear deal. He also said in his meetings in New York, international figures and world leaders unanimously called for a prompt agreement and a solution to the remaining problems.
In addition, Rouhani said Iran has made as much modifications as possible in its negotiating position and now it is the other side’s turn to review its demands to help secure a final deal.
