Iran won't drop demands in Vienna negotiations

TEHERAN－Iran will not sacrifice its demands to deadlines or "artificial timetables" of the ongoing nuclear talks, according to a commentary published by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA, on Wednesday.

After a nearly six-month suspension, the talks resumed in the Austrian capital Vienna on Monday and are aimed at salvaging the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

According to the IRNA commentary, the nuclear talks began at the expert level on Wednesday morning with representatives from Iran, the P4+1 group－Britain, China, France, Russia plus Germany－as well as the European Union.

The expert level meetings of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, are set to discuss the removal of US sanctions on Iran and the mechanism for the parties to reembrace their commitments under the accord.

"Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirmed Teheran's fundamental position on the need for effective lifting of sanctions against the Iranian people and encouraged other members to participate constructively in the talks," stated the IRNA commentary.

Representatives of other countries have also expressed their "readiness and seriousness" to engage in the issue of lifting sanctions.

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, is optimistic about the outcome of the talks and has stressed his country's serious will to negotiate and its readiness to reach an agreement.

However, IRNA insisted that Iran will not be willing to sacrifice the principled demands and rights of the Iranian people to deadlines or artificial timetables that might be proposed in the conclusion of talks.

Also on Wednesday, Iran has started producing enriched uranium with more efficient and advanced centrifuges at its Fordow plant dug into a mountain, said the United Nations' atomic watchdog.

On the third day of current talks, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, said Iran had started the process of enriching uranium of up to 20 percent purity with one cascade or cluster of 166 advanced IR-6 machines at Fordow, according to Reuters.

'Ordinary update'

Iran said the report is only routine. "The recent report of the IAEA on Iran's nuclear activities is an ordinary update in line with regular verification in Iran," wrote Iran's permanent mission to the UN organizations in Vienna on Twitter.

Between April and June, the parties to the JCPOA held talks in Vienna to discuss a possible return of the US to the deal and how to ensure full and effective implementation of the deal. The US withdrew from the deal in 2018.

Xinhua - Agencies