Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi, who is also a member of the country’s team of negotiators in nuclear talks with the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), announced on Wednesday that Tehran has not allowed the talk of its defensive systems be mooted in the nuclear negotiations.
He also underlined that Tehran will never permit the negotiating parties to talk about its defensive capabilities either.
“We have announced to them that our country’s defensive systems are non-negotiable,” Araqchi stressed.
This comes after the latest round of nuclear talks between Iran and the sextet of world powers in Vienna came to an end without any tangible results.
In comments following the Vienna talks, Araqchi had pointed the finger of blame for lack of progress in the nuclear negotiations at the US, saying the Americans have been pushing to raise discussions on Iran’s missile capabilities.
In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency on May 19, Ebrahim Aqamohammadi, a member of the influential parliamentary commission, quoted Araqchi as saying that one of the main reasons behind futility of the latest round of nuclear talks was “US insistence on discussing Iran’s long-range missiles.”
Tehran has repeatedly announced the issue of its defensive capabilities will by no means be mooted in the nuclear negotiations.
“I assure you that the Islamic Republic’s defense and our defensive capabilities will not be the subject of negotiations,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said before leaving for Austria on May 13.