Iran will make utmost efforts to resolve nuclear issue: FM

“We will make our utmost effort to make the best use of the negotiations in these days in Vienna to settle problems,” the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Vienna on Tuesday as he arrived for a fresh round of talks with the P5+1.

He, however, warned that it is “very unlikely” that Iran and the six world powers would reach a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear energy program in the new round of talks in Vienna.

He added that Iran and the six countries have agreed on general issues but there are “very important and critical” details such as the extent of uranium enrichment as well as the timetable and the way of lifting the sanctions that need to be discussed.

“We hope that the opposite side would accept both the realities that exist at regional and international levels, and the realities of Iran’s nuclear program, which is an advanced peaceful program, to be able to find a solution which would benefit all,” Zarif said.

Zarif is scheduled to sit down with EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who leads the negotiating team from the P5+1 countries, at a dinner banquet later on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the nuclear talks and the agenda for the negotiations.

The Iranian foreign minister is then set to attend a trilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Ashton on Wednesday.

This round of talks is the eighth this year between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Russia, China, France, Britain, and the US – plus Germany.