VIENNA (Dispatches) -- A top Iranian negotiator said Wednesday anti-Iran sanctions must be lifted simultaneously with the implementation of a comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the group of six countries (P5+1).
Abbas Araqchi said that parties involved in the nuclear talks with Tehran must annul the current economic and financial sanctions on the Islamic Republic on the day a potential deal on the country’s nuclear program goes into effect.
He made the remarks upon his arrival in this Austrian capital, where a fresh round of nuclear talks is going on between members of the Iranian team and representatives of the six countries.
Araqchi added that Iran, for its part, will have to carry out a series of "time-consuming” measures for the sanctions to be lifted, adding the two sides are working on a timetable to synchronize their undertakings after the deal is finalized.
"Some solutions have been proposed and we are working on them. For us, the principle of simultaneity is very important,” Araqchi said.
The diplomat, who serves as Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said the Iranian team is trying to reach a "good deal” and for such an agreement the two sides may be forced to extend their talks beyond the June 30 deadline.
"We are not bound by time, but we are committed to this issue that a good agreement with details that are favorable to us is hammered out, even if it may take a long time,” Araqchi said.
The new round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group - the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany - is expected to continue until Friday with the aim of removing the remaining stumbling blocks ahead of a final deal. The two sides have set the end of June as a deadline for the deal.
The Wednesday negotiations were held between Iranian deputy foreign ministers, Araqchi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, and deputy foreign policy chief of the European Union Helga Schmid.
The deputy-level talks opened at 11.30 a.m. local time and ended after two hours of intense discussions. Experts from the two sides will continue discussing the details in the coming hours.
The two sides wrapped up their latest round of talks in Vienna on May 22.
Iran and the P5+1 group and the EU reached a framework agreement Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne in April.
France warned it was ready to block a final deal unless Tehran provided inspectors access to all installations, including military sites.
However, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei last week ruled out inspection of Iran's military sites or access to nuclear scientists under any nuclear agreement. Iran's military leaders echoed his remarks.
"France will not accept (a deal) if it is not clear that inspections can be done at all Iranian installations, including military sites," Laurent Fabius told lawmakers.
Araqchi’s statement that the deadline could be extended echoed comments by France's ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud. Araud said on Tuesday that the deal was not likely by June 30 because technical details would remain to be agreed.
France is considered to be demanding more stringent restrictions on the Iranians under any deal than the other Western delegations, officials said, although U.S. officials have cautioned that France's position privately is not as tough as it is publicly.
A tentative agreement was reached between Iran, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China on April 2, but several issues remain unresolved.
Among them are the pace of easing Western sanctions imposed over the Iranian program and the monitoring and verification measures to ensure Iran could not pursue a clandestine nuclear weapons program.
Iran denies any ambition to develop nuclear weapons and says its program is purely peaceful.
"The talks are serious, complicated and detailed. The pace of talks is slow as we have entered final stages," Araqchi said upon his arrival in Vienna.
Speaking a day after meeting the head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Paris, Fabius also appeared to suggest differences with other members of the P5+1, saying he hoped all of them would adopt France's position.
"'Yes' to an agreement, but not to an agreement that will enable Iran to have the atomic bomb. That is the position of France, which is independent and peaceful," he said.