[caption id="attachment_53358" align="alignright" width="180"] Iran Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal And International Affairs Abbas Araqchi[/caption]
Iran's top nuclear negotiator says Tehran has received no proposal concerning anti-Iran sanctions relief, stressing that any solution to Tehrans nuclear issue which does not guarantee the lifting of the bans is unacceptable.
Any initiative that does not ensure the easing of sanctions is not acceptable to us, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday in reaction to the latest remarks by US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman that Washington has not offered any sanctions relief to Tehran.
"We have not offered any easing of the sanctions, we have not removed any of the sanctions," Sherman said in an interview with Israels Channel 10 television network broadcast on Sunday.
Araqchi said during the recent rounds of negotiations between the representatives of Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain - plus Germany in the Austrian capital Vienna and the Swiss city of Geneva, the two sides simply discussed their capabilities and facilities during the talks, but no agreement was reached between the two sides on these issues.
On October 31, Iran and the six major world powers wrapped up their expert-level negotiations over the Islamic Republics nuclear energy program in Vienna.
The two sides concluded two days of talks in Geneva on October 16. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the talks as extensive and fruitful.
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the six countries in the talks, also hailed the nuclear talks as the most detailed and substantive held between the two sides.
Iran and the six major world powers have agreed to meet again in Geneva on November 7-8.
The US, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union having used the pretext to impose illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.