Araqchi, European deputy FM hold quadrilateral meeting in Geneva

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi and his European counterparts held a quadrilateral meeting in Geneva on the sidelines of Iran-six world powers talks. Araqchi met German Deputy Foreign Minister Hans Dieter Lucas, his British counterpart Simon Gass and French Deputy Foreign Minister Jacque Au Dieber in the Swiss city on Wednesday night. The quadrilateral talks focused on the trend of progress in the ongoing Iran-Group 5+1 talks in Geneva. On Monday, senior parliamentary officials in Tehran warned that Iran would stop negotiating with the world powers in case the US Congress approves any new sanction against the country. Member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari made the remarks after a meeting between his commission members and the Iranian negotiating team, including Zarif and his deputies, Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi at the parliament on Sunday night. Speaking to FNA on Monday, Asafari pointed to the recent efforts made by the US Congress to approve new round of sanctions against Iran, and said, “Since the US Congress has recently proposed approval of new sanctions against Iran, during the commission’s meeting with the foreign ministry officials last night, we reiterated that they (the negotiating team) should inform the American side that in case they ratify new sanctions in the US Congress, continuing the negotiations will be unnecessary and meaningless under such circumstances and we would abandon the talks.” He noted that in the Sunday meeting the lawmakers and the negotiating team also discussed France’s negative role in the previous round of the talks between Iran and the six world powers in Geneva. Takht Ravanchi told FNA on Sunday that mutual confidence-building measures would be meaningless unless all the sanctions imposed against Iran are removed according to the agreements. “On the basis of the understandings (between Iran and the world powers) all sanctions, including unilateral, multilateral and the UN Security Council sanctions should be removed and if not, it would be meaningless for us to take confidence-building measures while sanctions have remained in place,” Takht Ravanchi told FNA. He stressed that Iran "has some redlines which must be respected". "We should see if they (the six world powers) share a single view or not," the negotiator said, but added, "Of course, taking into account what (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov has stated, it seems that they are not united." He said in the last round of talks in Geneva earlier this month, the representative of one of the world powers added so many revisions to Iran's proposal that actually made it impossible for Iranian negotiators to accept the final version. "From their point of view, the latest text (of the talks) will set the agenda for the upcoming meeting, but Zarif has declared to them in his last meeting with the Group 5+1 (ministers) that we cannot at all confine ourselves to this text." Iran and the six world powers agreed at the end of three days of talks from November 7 to 9 to follow up on the nuclear negotiations on November 20. The two sides did not reach an agreement but stressed that significant progress had been made and expressed optimism about the prospects of a possible deal in the future. When after a day of progressive negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who presides over the delegations of the six world powers in the talks with Iran, called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to rush to Geneva to go a few more miles because a deal was possible, Israeli premier started hues and cries to stop the deal. Then, Netanyahu “utterly” denounced the possible agreement in the course of the nuclear talks as “very, very bad”. Kerry rushed to Tel Aviv to soothe Benjamin Netanyahu's concerns, but he apparently failed. The debates between the two grew so unfriendly that Kerry even excused himself from taking photos with Netanyahu, saying he has a tight schedule and should rush to Geneva. Then Netanyahu made more ballyhoos making US President Barack Obama contact him to alleviate his concerns. Unsatisfied with Obama's explanations, the Israeli prime minister called the French asking them to go to Geneva to stop the agreement. Then, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who was not invited to the Geneva talks, called Ashton urging that he needed to be present there. Surprised Ashton was then forced to call in Fabius's British and German counterparts to the talks as well. Fabius appeared on several media and warned that Israel’s “concerns” must be taken into consideration. “It is necessary to take fully into account Israel’s security concerns and those of the region,” Fabius told France Inter radio in Geneva last weekend at the beginning of the third day of talks between Iran and the world powers. Analysts believe that Israel, the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle-East with 200-400 warheads, fears a rapprochement between Iran and the US, its main ally.