Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- Amid intense eleventh hour negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said negotiations between the two sides “have never been closer to a lasting outcome.”
In a video message released on Friday in Vienna, the Iranian foreign minister however cautioned that “there is no guarantee” for a deal.  He maintained that Iran’s negotiating partners have to make a choice between agreement with the Islamic Republic or coercion against it.
Negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the US, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany - are working to reach a comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear program in the Austrian city of Vienna. The two sides have agreed to continue talks to strike a final deal by July 7.
“Getting to yes requires the courage to compromise, the self-confidence to be flexible, the maturity to be reasonable, the wisdom to set aside illusions and the audacity to break old habits,” Zarif said. Referring to economic sanctions and military threats against Iran, he pointed out that, "some stubbornly believe that military and economic coercion can ensure submission. They still insist on spending other people’s money or sacrificing other people’s children for their own delusional designs." The statement by Iran's foreign minister once again reiterates the country's unshakable resolve in talks with six world powers. No doubt, Iran's stance of resistance and not surrendering its inalienable nuclear rights has, as Zarif pointed out, made the negotiating partners recognize that coercion and pressure never lead to lasting solutions but to more conflict and further hostility.
Amid the intricate negotiations between Iran and the six world powers in the Austrian capital Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Director General Yukia Amano made a one day trip to Tehran on Thursday where he met Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.
During the meeting, President Rouhani said "the Islamic Republic has had a long, transparent cooperation with the IAEA and it has been proven to the agency that “false accusations about deviation in Iran’s nuclear activities are unfounded.” Rouhani said in the past, Tehran’s cooperation with the IAEA led to the resolution of some ambiguities surrounding Iran’s nuclear program.
The Islamic Republic has time and again shown its goodwill and rendered full cooperation to the UN nuclear agency. However the IAEA has not reciprocated but instead, under pressure from certain powers, takes political stances to the detriment of mutual cooperation between the two sides.
Amano’s visit to Tehran comes as the IAEA recently confirmed Tehran’s commitment to what was agreed with six world powers in 2013.
In its latest report, which was circulated among members of the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors and the United Nations Security Council, the UN nuclear watchdog said by Tuesday, June 30, Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile was as per the agreement  under a November 2013 interim deal reached in Geneva between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group. Even without the interim agreement, Iran has time and again remained committed to its international obligations while maintaining that all its past and present nuclear activities have been peaceful.
Despite some media outlets speculating that Amano had come to Tehran to persuade Iranian authorities to allow inspections of its military sites, the Islamic Republic maintains that this is a red line which cannot be crossed under any circumstances.
Senior Iranian negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi told the reporters in Vienna that he welcomed IAEA chief Amano’s travel to Tehran adding that Iran is ready to cooperate with the UN agency to help clear misunderstandings regarding the so-called Potential Military Dimensions (PMD) of Iran's nuclear program.  He termed PMD a chronic story of many years ago when the baseless claims led more pressure and sanctions to be imposed on Iran while reiterating the peaceful of Iran's nuclear program.
In a statement on Friday, Amano said that Iran and the UN body have a "better understanding" in some areas but stressed that more work is required.
Despite unfounded claims against Iran's peaceful nuclear program, the Islamic Republic maintains that nuclear weapons have no place in the country's defensive doctrine.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has, in its various reports, verified the non-diversion of Iran’s declared nuclear activities from their peaceful nature. The UN nuclear watchdog must play its role and act as a neutral arbitrator on Iran's nuclear issue and reject any interference and pressure from certain powers for its credibility to be maintained internationally.