Iran to emerge winner in nuclear talks: Velayati

A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran will emerge winner in the negotiations with the P5+1 group of world powers over its nuclear energy program.

“We are confident that in the end, even if Iran-P+1 negotiations last for a long time, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be the winner,” Ali Akbar Velayati told reporters on Saturday.

Iran favors negotiations and is “seriously” pursuing its talks with six world powers, he said, adding that Tehran will never be the one to pull out of the talks.

Velayati, who is also President of the Expediency Council’s Center for Strategic Research, reiterated Iran's stance that it plans to benefit from "peaceful nuclear energy within the framework of international regulations and supervision."

He said some countries in the P5+1 group intend to deprive Iran of its “inalienable” nuclear right in violation of the international law, adding that Iran will resist such attempts.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany – are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program as a November 24 deadline approaches.

Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block in the way of resolving the Western dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the bans imposed on the Islamic Republic and not the number of centrifuges or the level of uranium enrichment.

Tehran wants the sanctions entirely lifted while Washington, under pressure from the pro-Israeli lobby, insists that at least the UN-imposed sanctions should remain in place.