Hassan Rouhani: Negotiations Will Continue Until Final Agreement is Reached

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasized on Tuesday that the future is 'bright' and 'the final victory in the nuclear negotiations will be with the Iranian nation,' stating that the sanctions imposed against Iran by the West must be 'lifted step by step.' This comes as Iranian officials have repeatedly called for 'the immediate removal' of sanctions against Iran 'if a comprehensive nuclear agreement is reached.' Hassan Rouhani made these remarks during a televised interview on December 3, just hours after Iran and six world powers agreed to extend nuclear negotiations for another seven months. He stated, 'Iran's logic is negotiation and dialogue, and nuclear negotiations will continue seriously until a final agreement is reached.' The UN Security Council member states, along with Germany, which operates under the P5+1 framework, agreed to extend the temporary Geneva nuclear agreement after a week of intensive bilateral and trilateral negotiations, right at the end of the agreement's duration. In his televised interview, Rouhani asserted that 'we will not back down from Iran's nuclear rights. There is no doubt about the continued operation of Iran's nuclear technology and facilities, and today the negotiating parties believe that pressure and sanctions are ineffective against Iran.' The Iranian president emphasized that the path of negotiation will lead to a final agreement, saying, 'Centrifuges will never stop, and the wheel of people's lives will also turn better.' Rouhani further clarified, 'We had two major goals in mind through negotiation and we are pursuing them; the first goal is to preserve nuclear technology and continue this path, and the second goal is to lift sanctions. During this time, we have continued technologies, meaning the centrifuges have always been spinning, and I promise the Iranian nation that the movement of the centrifuges will never stop.' Iran and the six world powers reached a six-month nuclear agreement on December 3 last year, which was implemented on January 30 and extended for four months starting in June. This temporary agreement was extended on December 3 for another seven months to continue negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear agreement. Iran currently has nineteen thousand centrifuges at the Natanz and Fordow sites, half of which are active. In another part of his speech, the Iranian president stated, 'The second goal in the negotiations has been that sanctions should be lifted step by step; today some sanctions have been lifted and some remain, but what is important is that in these negotiations, the negotiating party fully accepted that sanctions must be lifted, and only how and when it starts is under discussion.' He added, 'It is true that in these negotiations we have not yet reached a final agreement, but I can say that we have taken steps forward towards reaching a final agreement, and today's conditions are completely different from three and six months ago, and the logics have come much closer and many gaps have been bridged. However, there are still steps and paths ahead that must be traversed.'