Araqchi: Geneva deal does not aim to improve Iranian-US ties

The Geneva Agreement signed by Iran and the P5+1 powers does not aim to improve the ties between Iran with the US, Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi announced here on Monday. "Iran and the US have various unresolved issues regarding human rights, Syria and Palestine as the US remains, from Iran's point of view, the Great Satan as it will not stop being hostile to us," Araqchi said in a statement issued by official Iranian media. "The negotiations help us assert our rights of uranium enrichment as they raise concerns of the other party that we are not seeking to use nuclear weapons," he added. Iran and the P5+1 group will begin negotiating on the final resolutions of the Geneva deal on February 18th in Vienna, Austria, Araqchi noted. "If the other side had good intentions, the negotiations would end in one year and then the sanctions will be lifted off of Iran," he stated. Iran and the P5+1 group have reached in Geneva last November a tentative agreement for a period of six months, stating that Iran can continue its uranium enrichment act by five percent and not to develop or construct new nuclear facilities. In return Western countries pledged not to issue new international sanctions against Iran and the suspension of banning the purchase of Iranian oil, in addition to allowing it to export its petrochemical industries, as well as lifting the ban on the purchase of gold and precious metals and returning oil revenues to Tehran.