President Rouhani has backed the Supreme Leader’s tough rhetoric on nuclear talks with the 5+1 Powers, as the drafting of a comprehensive agreement continues in Vienna.
Rouhani told officials in East Azerbaijan on Thursday, “The government is fully obedient to the views of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and we will never ink an agreement which allows anyone to access the country’s scientific and military secrets.”
On Wednesday, the Supreme Leader said at a military ceremony, “No permission will be given for inspection of any military centers [or for] talks with the nuclear scientists and…intrusion into their privacy.”
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The leading issues between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) continue to be the timing of the removal of sanctions in return for limits on Iran’s nuclear facilities and enrichment of uranium. However, International Atomic Energy head Yukiya Amano elevated the issue of “possible military dimensions” last week when he insisted that the Agency must have access at any time to military sites.
While backing Ayatollah Khamenei’s firm line over inspections, Rouhani repeated that Iran will implement the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if a comprehensive deal is reached.
Political deputies from Iran and the 5+1 are in a third day of talks in Vienna on Friday, hoping to move towards the final text for agreement before a June 30 deadline.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif echoed Rouhani this morning, telling State news agency IRNA that negotiators are “fully obliged to respect nuclear red lines”: “Under no circumstance [will] Iran…give in to excessive demands by the western side.”
Touching upon the US excessive demands in inspecting Fordow nuclear facility and other military sites,
