BRUSSELS: Senior officials from the European Union and Iran have made “very good progress” in talks in Geneva on the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal, the EU said yesterday.
The officials met on Thursday and yesterday to iron out remaining practical issues to put in place the Nov. 24 deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its most sensitive atom work in return for some relief from western economic sanctions.
“Deputy Secretary General (Helga) Schmid and Deputy Foreign Minister (Abbas) Araqchi made very good progress on all the pertinent issues,” EU spokesman Michael Mann said, referring to the EU and Iranian officials.
He added, however, that any agreements had to be validated by the governments of Iran and the six world powers negotiating with the Islamic Republic over its atom work: the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.
The EU liaised with Iran on behalf of the six.
Meanwhile, former British foreign minister warned yesterday that the West should not push Iran too far in talks over the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions because failing to get a deal could bolster hardliners in Tehran.
But Jack Straw told the BBC he was “optimistic”, on returning to London from Iran where he led a British delegation including former finance minister Norman Lamont, Conservative member of parliament Ben Wallace and Labour lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn.
In an interim deal reached in Geneva on Nov. 24, Iran agreed with world powers to freeze some of its nuclear programme as the first step towards a long-term deal that many hope could resolve a dispute over its nuclear ambitions.Agencies
