Addressing a large congregation of Iranian people in Tehran on Friday, Ayatollah Kazem Seddiqi stressed that the Iranian team of negotiators will stand firm on the country’s nuclear rights.
“Iran favors dialogue and logic,” Tehran’s provisional Friday prayers leader underlined, but made it clear that concessions could never make the Iranians stop short of pursuing their nuclear rights.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) wrapped up seven days of intensive nuclear talks in Vienna on November 24 without securing a long-awaited comprehensive deal.
They decided to extend talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program for seven more months.
The latest round of negotiations were held ahead of the self-imposed deadline of November 24.
On November 24, 2013, Iran and the G5+1 (alternatively known as the P5+1 or E3+3) signed an interim nuclear deal in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The Geneva deal (the Joint Plan of Action) came into effect in January and expired in July, when the parties decided to extend negotiations until November 24 in the hope of clinching a final deal that would end a decade of impasse over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.