Iran not expecting immediate results of nuclear talks

Iran does not expect immediate results from a new round of nuclear talks with world powers that started in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday. Marzieh Afkham said Iran and the P5+1 group, which consists of the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany, would mainly talk about the framework of their future negotiations in Vienna. The course of talks is "long, difficult and complicated which should be paced carefully and vigilantly," she said. Iran's military and defensive program has nothing to do with the nuclear talks and "a new round of talks will merely focus on Iran's nuclear issue, and the Iranian negotiating team will insist on that," she added. Referring to Monday's remarks by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about the talks, she said the leader was urging the Iranian negotiators to heed "predetermined principles" of Iran's nuclear rights. Khamenei said Monday that he was not optimistic about Iran's nuclear negotiations with the world powers. "(Some Iranian officials believe) if we negotiate with the United States on the nuclear issue, the problem will be solved... I'm not opposed to the talks, but I'm not optimistic." In November, Iran and the P5+1 group reached an interim deal on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva and started its implementing on Jan. 20. Under the deal, Iran suspended the most sensitive parts of its nuclear activities in exchange for partial relief of the sanctions slapped on it. The two sides started a fresh round of talks in Vienna on Tuesday toward reaching a comprehensive nuclear agreement.