TEHRAN (Dispatches) – A senior Iranian negotiator said on Saturday the Islamic Republic will not accept to shut down or even suspend the activities of any of its nuclear facilities in its talks with six world powers.

"All nuclear capabilities of Iran will be preserved and no facility will be shut down or even suspended and no device or equipment will be dismantled,” Abbas Araqchi, who is also Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said.

"We will not retreat one iota from the country’s nuclear rights, but we are fully ready for transparency and confidence-building,” he said, adding that Iran will push ahead with "industrial-scale enrichment” of uranium to meet the country’s civilian needs.

Araqchi also repeated Iran’s call for the removal of all sanctions against the country, saying: "All sanctions should be lifted and the Islamic Republic of Iran will not accept even a single instance of sanctions to remain in place under a final comprehensive nuclear deal.”

The Iranian official’s remarks came in response to repeated demands from the West that Iran shut down the Fordo nuclear facility in central Iran.

Meanwhile, U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Thursday that the P5+1 group, which is negotiating with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, has offered the country ideas that are "equitable, enforceable and consistent” with Tehran’s desire for a civilian nuclear program, claiming that Iran would be responsible for any failure to reach a permanent accord over its nuclear work.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – Russia, China, France, Britain, the U.S. 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 disputes over Iran’s nuclear energy program remains to be the removal of all the sanctions imposed on Iran and not the number of centrifuges or the level of enrichment.

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

Araqchi said prospects for reaching a deal by the November 24 deadline are not good, and urged the P5+1 world powers to abandon their "excessive demands”.

"The negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 are going ahead on a tough path filled with ups and downs where there is no good prospect for the conclusion of the talks by the deadline,” said Araqchi, according to Tasnim news agency.

On Thursday, Sherman seemed to alternate between skepticism over Iran’s negotiating position and praise for progress made thus far in an address on Thursday.

Araqchi said, "Undoubtedly, attempting to launch negotiations through media outlets rather than (sitting at the) negotiation table and declaring political demands, once accompanied by illogical excessive demands, will not only not help the progress of the talks, but also will make the present tough path more difficult or impossible.”

Speaking at the Center for Security and International Studies, Sherman talked up U.S. willingness to reach a deal with Tehran, while still casting doubts as to whether such a deal could be reached by November 24. Still, she stressed her desire for a successful resolution of the negotiating process, telling the Iranians that the coming month marked their "best chance” and that now was the time to "finish the job”.

Araqchi indicated that Iran would continue to negotiate until the target date.

"We also believe that the existing opportunity is a great chance which may not be available for neither side again. We are certain that if the other side adheres to its declared objective in the negotiations, that is making sure that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, realizing this goal is not that difficult,” said the Iranian official.

In her address, Sherman detailed advances that occurred under the Joint Plan of Action interim agreement reached last year, including Iran halting the expansion of its overall enrichment capacity; capping its stockpile of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride; stopping the production of uranium enriched to 20%; agreeing not to make further advances at the Arak heavy water reactor; and opening the door to "unprecedented daily access for international inspectors to the facilities at Natanz and Fordo”.

Significant hurdles remain, however. "We are aware, of course, that this negotiating process is, shall we say, controversial,” Sherman said .

The US government has come out of those discussions with a reinforced conviction that diplomacy with Iran is worth the risk, Sherman emphasized.

U.S. Congress could prove an obstacle in this regard, given threats by Democrats and Republicans to institute new sanctions if the deal isn’t to their liking.