Iran has categorically rejected a report by Reuters alleging that the Islamic Republic has sought partial removal of the sanctions imposed on the country over its nuclear energy program.
“This issue is not right at all,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said, referring to the Tuesday report, which had alleged the country is no longer demanding a total end to economic sanctions.
The report had claimed, “Under their most recent offer, Iranian officials have told Reuters that Iran’s leadership would be satisfied with removing crippling U.S. and European Union energy and banking sanctions imposed in 2012.”
Afkham said, “None of the speculations, which are made in some foreign media usually with certain ill-intentions regarding the details of the [nuclear] negotiations, are true.”
Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, Russia, Britain, France, and the United States – plus Germany are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program as a November 24 deadline approaches.
Last year, the two sides clinched an interim nuclear accord that took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. However, they agreed to extend their talks until November 24 as they remained divided on a number of key issues.
