19-04-2024 01:06 AM Jerusalem Timing

Iran, Six Powers to Speed Up Nuclear Talks

Iran, Six Powers to Speed Up Nuclear Talks

Political directors of Iran and the 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany) group of powers stated in their meeting today that they want to accelerate the nuclear talks, head of the Iranian experts delegation

BaeedinejadPolitical directors of Iran and the 5+1 (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany) group of powers stated in their meeting today that they want to accelerate the nuclear talks, head of the Iranian experts delegation to the negotiations announced on Friday.

Hamid Baeedinejad, who is the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Director General for Political and Security Affairs, wrote in his Instagram account that after several days of nonstop meeting among the political directors of the seven nations, the delegations had a review meeting earlier today.

"At this meeting, the trend of previous discussions came under study and the seven nations stated their serious willingness to speed up progress in the talks," the Iranian negotiator added.

Two years of negotiations among the seven nations produced a political framework agreement in April at the Beau-Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne.
Diplomats hope to conclude the talks with a final, comprehensive agreement sealed by July 1.

Reading out a joint statement at a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Lausanne on April 2, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said according to the agreement, all the US, EU and UN Security Council sanctions against Iran would be lifted under the final deal.

Talks are underway among the delegations of the seven nations to draft the final deal.

The negotiations continue as a cybersecurity firm has identified breaches in its software at three luxury Swiss hotels that hosted the Iran nuclear talks from a virus considered a hallmark of Israeli intelligence operations.

Kaspersky Lab ZAO discovered the virus at the three hotels where world powers and Iran held negotiations over its nuclear program in the past year.

According to its report of the investigation, Kaspersky crosschecked thousands of hotels in search of similar breaches and found only three. The firm declined to name the hotels, but the negotiations have been held in just six hotels in Switzerland and Austria since the diplomatic effort first began.

Kaspersky has concluded that the perpetrator was a sophisticated virus known as Duqu, which allows its handlers to monitor activity, steal computer, files and eavesdrop on the rooms in which computers are operating.

The company also reported that the front desks of the hotels had also been hacked, which the Journal said would allow the hackers to identify the room numbers of specific delegates and ministers.

Both Switzerland and Austria that have hosted several rounds of talks between Iran and the six world power (the US, Britain Russia, China and France plus Germany) have ordered investigations.

US officials publicly accused Israel of spying on the talks back in 2014 and have repeated those allegations on multiple occasions since. Israel’s intelligence effort, they say, began in 2012, when the Obama administration first opened a covert channel with Tehran.
Iran said on Friday that Israel's spying on the nuclear talks was nothing unexpected to Tehran.

"The nuclear negotiations has enemies, specially the Zionist regime that does not want the talks to succeed. Owing to the same fact, they would spare no efforts and their spying was and is not an unexpected issue," Reza Najafi said today.

Yet, the IAEA envoy stressed that the negotiators have always adopted the necessary precautions.