Zarif: We Have Entered Technical Details in Nuclear Negotiations

Iran's Foreign Minister says that the Islamic Republic's nuclear negotiations with the 1+5 group have entered "technical discussion details." Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized that if the West wants the Iranian nuclear issue to be resolved, the ground for a complete resolution is available. According to the state news agency IRNA, Mr. Zarif stated on Saturday, February 6, "Currently, the nuclear negotiations have entered the details of technical discussions... we are discussing enrichment, what arrangement of centrifuges can yield the best results, and what level of enrichment we need for enrichment." Centrifuges are used for uranium enrichment, and highly enriched uranium can be used in the construction of nuclear weapons. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday, February 3, citing diplomats, that Iran and the U.S. are still negotiating over the number of Iran's active centrifuges. Last year, the U.S. asked Iran to reduce its active centrifuges from the current figure of 10,000 to about 2,000. In December of last year, when the nuclear negotiations were extended for the second time, the U.S. and other global powers agreed that Iran could keep 4,500 of its centrifuges active. Mohammad Javad Zarif and John Kerry, the foreign ministers of Iran and the U.S., met and discussed each other on Friday, February 5, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. According to a reporter from Radio Farda in Munich, this meeting focused on Iran's nuclear issues and emphasized that efforts should be made to reach a political framework by the end of March 2015. Zarif emphasized the "substantive difference" between the opposition from what he described as "friends and even the concerned" within Iran and the "radical Western opponents" of the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the 1+5 countries, adding that these oppositions, for any reason, are an "obstacle to agreement." He added, "If the U.S. Congress makes a decision regarding sanctions, our parliament will certainly take similar action. I believe that the U.S. Congress's action could be a very dangerous move for the future of negotiations." The Iranian parliament on Tuesday, February 3, approved a plan that obliges the government to annul the Geneva interim agreement if the U.S. Congress increases sanctions against Iran. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee also approved a plan on February 1, which states that if negotiations between Iran and the six global powers regarding its nuclear program do not yield results by the end of June, sanctions on Tehran will be intensified. Barack Obama, the President of the United States, has emphasized that he will "veto" new congressional sanctions against Iran. Mr. Obama stated that weakening diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear dispute is a mistake in the current sensitive conditions. "From Israel's perspective, any agreement is bad." Iran's foreign minister on Saturday accused Israel of seeking the unresolved nuclear issue of Iran. He added, "From their perspective, any agreement is bad; the only good agreement from Netanyahu's view is not to agree, and even better than that is to enter into a conflict with Iran because the Zionist regime sees its existence in tension and conflict in this region." Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, stated on January 26 that a final nuclear agreement might be reached between Iran and the powers in the coming weeks, but this agreement (from Israel's perspective) would be "bad" and "unacceptable." In another part of his remarks, Iran's foreign minister said, "Iran will never enter negotiations based on pressure, let alone enter into an agreement." He added, "Sanctions only make the people of Iran more suspicious of the West's intentions and drive them to pursue their own plans more vigorously." Concurrently with Mr. Zarif's remarks, Es'haq Jahangiri, the First Vice President of Iran, also stated, "If they tighten sanctions, we will find other ways and will not allow domestic production to face problems." According to ISNA news agency, he also expressed hope that Iran's negotiations with the 1+5 group would yield results and that lifting sanctions would reduce the "additional costs imposed on Iran's industry." Iran and the six global powers, which reached a six-month nuclear agreement last December, have extended the Geneva interim agreement twice due to the lack of a comprehensive nuclear agreement. It has been agreed that the parties will reach a "political agreement" by March and achieve a final nuclear agreement by July 10.