Success of Geneva agreement depends on removal of all oppressive sanctions

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani underlined that the agreement reached between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) will bear its fruit only if the western countries remove all the sanctions imposed against Iran. “The main outcome of the first step taken in the recent talks (in Geneva) is clearly the continuation of the same move in the next step, this means lifting the oppressive sanctions as mentioned in the outlook for the final step of the document and this is very important,” Larijani said on Tuesday. He reiterated that all member countries of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) are entitled to uranium enrichment and said this is a right and does not need the approval of the western countries. The speaker expressed the hope that the Iranian foreign ministry would make more efforts under the auspices of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, to protect the Iranian nation’s rights. On Monday, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi stressed that the recent deal signed by Iran and the six world powers in Geneva has not harmed the structure or system of Tehran's nuclear program, but cracked the structure of the US-led western sanctions imposed against Iran. “The organization and structure of our nuclear program has remained unaffected and the structure of the sanction cracked in the recent talks,” Salehi said yesterday. "We are due to avoid 20-percent uranium enrichment in the coming six months, but our five percent grade uranium enrichment will not be lowered and will rather grow,” said Salehi, a former foreign minister. The AEOI chief underlined that the Group 5+1 countries bowed to Iran in the Geneva 3 talks. “They came to the conclusion that confronting Iran is of no use and they should interact with this country.” Salehi stressed that the agreement reached in Geneva is a beginning to an end. “We have not lost anything, but we have only taken up to stop 20 percent uranium enrichment,” the AEOI chief said, adding, “It is like a tap that we turn off and if they do not fulfill their undertakings, we will turn it on again.” Also on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined that Tehran will keep its eyes wide-open to see if the Group 5+1 complies with the terms of the agreement the two sides signed in Geneva on Sunday. Addressing a ceremony in the AEOI in Tehran, Zarif pointed to the success of the country's negotiating team in the Geneva talks with the six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany), and said, “Negotiations do not mean blind trust and we will do our best to reach a final solution because we shouldn’t lose this opportunity.” The Iranian foreign minister pointed to Israel’s animosity with Iran and fury of the Israeli leader over the victory of Iran’s diplomacy in Geneva talks, and said, “In these negotiations we want to build the trust of the world in the fact that we are not after nuclear weapons; so why have the enemies been terrified in such a way and why are they crying out?” Iran and the G5+1 reached a final deal on Sunday morning after days of hard work and intensive negotiations. After endorsing the agreement with the world powers, Zarif underlined that the six world powers have recognized Iran’s enrichment program. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on Sunday morning, the Iranian foreign minister pointed to the agreement reached between Iran and the G5+1, and said, “Today’s agreement deals with several sectors, the most important of which is that Iran’s enrichment program has been recognized, and this program will continue.” Zarif underlined that the Iranian nation wants the opposite side to show respect for its rights, and said, “We need to remove the historical lack of confidence and the West should also be able to win the Iranian nation’s confidence.” Zarif called on the West to discard its catch-phrase “the military option is on the table”, and said, “The right to own nuclear energy is among the rights of all countries and the international rules approve of this right. Governments cannot threaten other countries only on the basis of their own decisions." "Iran is entitled to make use of its rights, and other countries should not threaten it because of its pursuit of its rights.” He reiterated that other countries should avoid threatening Iran only because is demanding its rights, and said, “We respect our rights and the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) members should know that they should not exert pressure on Iran and this agreement that has just been signed mentions that Iran is fully entitled to the right of enrichment and it will never quit its rights in the future.”