TEHRAN - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday warned against “excessive demands” by world powers at nuclear talks due to resume in Geneva this week, an official website reported.
“At the recent Geneva talks good progress was made, but everyone must realise excessive demands could complicate the process towards a win-win agreement,” www.dolat.ir quoted Rouhani as telling Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Iran and the P5+1 group of nations begin a new round of talks at Geneva on Wednesday, after the two sides failed to clinch a deal in high-level, marathon negotiations earlier this month.
“From our point of view, there should not be a situation in which the will of parties to reach mutually acceptable agreement is affected,” the website quoted Rouhani as telling Putin by phone.
He “thanked Russia for its position in Geneva” and stressed that Iran’s nuclear drive is “peaceful and under the control” of the UN atomic agency. The Kremlin earlier reported that Putin spoke to Rouhani on Monday and told him there was “a real chance” of finding a solution to the decade-old nuclear stand-off between Iran and the West. The Kremlin said Putin had called Rouhani to discuss the Syrian crisis as well as a new round of talks about the nuclear standoff that is set to begin in Geneva on Wednesday. “Putin stressed that a real chance has now emerged for finding a solution to this longstanding problem,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The Kremlin added that Rouhani gave a “high grade” to Russia’s role at the so-called P5+1 negotiations that besides Iran include the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany.
The last round of talks between Iran and world powers earlier this month come tantalisingly close to finding a framework agreement that would have suspended some elements of Tehran’s disputed programme in exchange for partial sanctions relief.
The terms of the potential deal have been vehemently opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some powerful members of the US Congress.
Netanyahu - who views a partial suspension of sanctions as detrimental to the negotiations - outlined his opposition to the agreement during talks with French President Francois Hollande on Sunday.
The Israeli head of state will continue his diplomatic offensive when he meets Putin in Moscow on Wednesday and receives US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday.