Nuclear concession vital for Iran's economy - expert

The nuclear agreement reached in Geneva between Iran and P5+1 group, will be successfully implemented, as Iran's economy is in serious need for that, expert on nuclear issues Reza Taghizadeh told Trend on Jan. 8.

Iran and the P5+1 reached a nuclear agreement on Nov. 24 in Geneva. Iran has agreed to curb some of its nuclear activities for six months in return for sanctions relief.

Commenting on the remaining issues over the Geneva deal, Taghizadeh said that the main issue is lifting sanctions as well as inspecting Iran`s nuclear facilities.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator and country's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will meet with deputy EU foreign policy chief, Helga Schmid on Jan. 9-10 to discuss "the remaining issues and minor differences in views" over Iran's nuclear program.

"Iran wants that sanctions to be lifted all at once and be able to receive $15 billion of its frozen assets, while the western side sees the sanctions as a grantee factor for forcing Iran to implement its obligations and plans to release the frozen assets step by step," he added.

Taghizadeh went on to say that, the western side also wants to monitor Iran's nuclear program.

"They expect that Iran implements some parts of the additional protocol and permits nuclear facilities` widespread inspection, in particular that of the Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor," he added. "These are two main problems which prevent implementation of the interim deal".

Taghizadeh went on to add that Iranian president Rouhani's administration is also under pressure from Iran's local conservatives, adding that the IRGC and conservative MPs believe that Iran has received fewer privileges against its obligations in the Geneva deal.

Speaking about the second possible nuclear deal, which could happen after six months, Taghizadeh said the next six months would be harder for Iran than the first ones.

""Resolving the problems in a short-time period seems to be very difficult," he added.

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.


/Trend/