Final nuclear deal must lift anti-Iran bans
A senior Iranian official says the ongoing talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers should annul all the “cruel sanctions” imposed on Tehran over its peaceful nuclear energy program.
“Unilateral sanctions or sanctions [passed] by the UN Security Council [against Iran] have no legal basis and they should be rescinded,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani told the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television.
Shamkhani added that the talks would bear no tangible results should the nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the six powers fail to result in the removal of anti-Iran bans.
The Iranian official, however, said that he is optimistic about the occurrence of a deal before the November 24 deadline.
Shamkhani further highlighted the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities and said, “Our defense doctrine has no place for unconventional weapons.”
Over the past 12 years, Iran’s nuclear facilities have been under constant supervision of the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA), Shamkhani added.
The comments came as representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – are in talks to hammer out a nuclear deal.
Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block in the way of resolving the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the bans imposed on the country, and not the number of centrifuges or the level of uranium enrichment.
Tehran wants the sanctions entirely lifted while Washington, under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby, insists that at least the UN-imposed sanctions should remain in place.