Iranian negotiator: New round of talks to test seriousness of world powers

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and Senior Negotiator in talks with the world powers Seyed Abbas Araqchi reiterated that the new round of talks between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany) will show the latter side’s level of seriousness. “The Geneva talks will be a measure to test the G5+1 group and in these negotiations the level of their political will to reach a resolution will be put to test,” Araqchi said on Wednesday. Iran and the six world powers are due to start a fresh round of talks in the Swiss city of Geneva later today. Araqchi, who arrived in Geneva earlier on Wednesday, further stated that the Islamic Republic will enter the second round of nuclear negotiations with seriousness, expressing hope for substantial progress in the discussions. The Iranian senior diplomat added that the representatives of Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will hold talks on the content of Tehran’s proposal tabled during the first round of Geneva negotiations. Araqchi is accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Majid Takht Ravanchi, Foreign Ministry's Director General for Political and International Affairs Hamid Bae’eidinejad, Foreign Minister's Legal Adviser Davoud Mohammadnia and Director General for Defensive Affairs at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Amiri. European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton will also head the six countries in the talks. The last meeting of the seven countries was in Geneva and lasted for two days on October 15 and 16. Both Tehran and the delegations of the G5+1 voiced satisfaction in the outcomes of the Geneva meeting and decided to send their experts to two days of talks in Vienna on October 30 and 31 to discuss details of Iran's new proposal for soothing the crisis. Iran and the six world powers agreed in their third session of talks on October 15 to follow up on the nuclear negotiations on November 7 and 8. At the end of the negotiations, Ashton hailed the nuclear negotiations as the “most detailed” and most “substantive” ones ever held between the two sides.