Iran: No Excessive Demands Raised in Talks with World Powers

(FNA)- The Iranian Foreign Ministry rejected the remarks by the US officials that Tehran's excessive demands will result in the failure of talks with the world powers, and said Iran has no excessive demands and is merely seeking to maintain its nuclear rights.

"In our view, such interpretations aren’t precise and correct," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Wednesday, dismissing US assistant secretary of state's remarks.

"We have always announced that our objective for reaching a comprehensive agreement is the restoration of our right to have a peaceful nuclear program and our insistence on this point will continue until the Iranian nation's rights are materialized," she underlined.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that Iran as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has the right to advance its civilian nuclear technology, and cautioned the US and its European allies to avoid excessive demands during the sixth round of the Iran-powers talks in Vienna.

In a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the talks between Iran and six major world powers on Tehran's nuclear program, and said uranium enrichment is just one of the points of difference between the two sides.

He, meantime, underscored that Iran’s right to nuclear research and development must be respected in the negotiations.

Stressing that the other side is asking for too much so that Iran would be content with the least, the Leader said that their goal in the field of uranium enrichment is to persuade Iran to limit its enrichment capacity to 10 thousand Separative Work Units (SWUs).

Ayatollah Khamenei also said that according to nuclear officials, Iran needs an enrichment capacity with at least 190 thousand SWUs.

The Leader further rejected the idea of shutting down Fordo nuclear facility.

Regarding Fordo facility they say as this facility is not accessible and cannot be targeted, therefore, it should be closed which is “laughable”, Ayatollah Khamenei stated.

Iran and the world powers ended over two weeks of negotiations in Vienna on Saturday with no final agreement between the two sides which was due to be reached before the July 20 deadline.

During the talks, a senior member of the Iranian team of negotiators stressed that the excessive demands made by the other side are the root cause of the differences between Tehran and the world powers.

At the end of their talks on Saturday, the two sides agreed to extend the negotiations till November 24 for brokering a final deal.