Negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program is a “waste of time” and it should be pushed forward towards time-limited talks, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Fisal said on Monday, as Europe confirmed that a ban on oil imports from Iran will go ahead as planned on July 1.
The comments came during the joint ministerial meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Union (EU) in Luxemburg.
“We have agreed on the importance of negotiating with Tehran for the sake of reaching a political solution. Based on our previous experience, negotiations for Iran might be a means to gain more time instead of reaching a result. I believe, planning a time-limit for the negotiations will push Iran to show its real policy. It is not important to talk about the nuclear potentials, but what is happening on the ground is more important,” Faisal said, according to Al Arabiya.
The comments came during the joint ministerial meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the European Union (EU) in Luxemburg.
“We have agreed on the importance of negotiating with Tehran for the sake of reaching a political solution. Based on our previous experience, negotiations for Iran might be a means to gain more time instead of reaching a result. I believe, planning a time-limit for the negotiations will push Iran to show its real policy. It is not important to talk about the nuclear potentials, but what is happening on the ground is more important,” Faisal said, according to Al Arabiya.
The West suspects Iran of seeking to make nuclear weapons under the guise of an energy program and wants it to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent, which brings it dangerously close to levels needed to make a nuclear bomb.
Prince Faisal praised the efforts exerted by “the (3+3) or (5+1) group that aims mainly at seeking a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.” He underlined the rights of the countries in the region to seek nuclear power for peaceful purposes, based on the measure and standards laid by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Prince Faisal expressed his depressions that Iran was not responding to all such efforts and its attempts to manipulate. The Saudi top diplomat underlined the importance of making the Middle East region free of mass-destruction weapons, SPA reported.
The EU confirmed earlier Monday that a ban on oil imports from Iran will go ahead as planned on July 1 due to the lack of progress in talks on Tehran’s contested nuclear drive.
“The latest package of EU sanctions against Iran will apply as earlier decided,” EU foreign ministers said in a statement referring to their January agreement to enforce an oil embargo failing a breakthrough in talks on Iran's nuclear program.
The 27-nation bloc agreed on Jan. 23 to immediately ban new oil imports from Iran and phase out existing contracts by July 1 after weeks of fraught talks on an embargo which is likely to hurt debt-straddled EU nations such as Greece.
“Following a review of the measures the council confirmed that they would remain as approved in January,” Monday’s EU statement added.
This meant on the one hand that contracts for importing Iranian oil that were concluded before Jan. 23 “will have to be terminated by July 1.”
“From the same date, EU insurers may no more provide third-party liability and environmental liability insurance for the transport of Iranian oil,” the statement said, according to AFP.
It added that “the objective of the EU remains to achieve a comprehensive, long-term settlement on the basis of meaningful negotiations between the E3+3 (global powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S.) and Iran.”
Confirmation that the embargo will be enforced comes days after talks in Moscow between Iran and world powers on its nuclear program failed to reach a breakthrough.
Negotiators from permanent U.N. Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, last week agreed with their Iranian counterparts to stage a new expert-level meeting in Istanbul on July 3.
Prince Faisal praised the efforts exerted by “the (3+3) or (5+1) group that aims mainly at seeking a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.” He underlined the rights of the countries in the region to seek nuclear power for peaceful purposes, based on the measure and standards laid by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Prince Faisal expressed his depressions that Iran was not responding to all such efforts and its attempts to manipulate. The Saudi top diplomat underlined the importance of making the Middle East region free of mass-destruction weapons, SPA reported.
The EU confirmed earlier Monday that a ban on oil imports from Iran will go ahead as planned on July 1 due to the lack of progress in talks on Tehran’s contested nuclear drive.
“The latest package of EU sanctions against Iran will apply as earlier decided,” EU foreign ministers said in a statement referring to their January agreement to enforce an oil embargo failing a breakthrough in talks on Iran's nuclear program.
The 27-nation bloc agreed on Jan. 23 to immediately ban new oil imports from Iran and phase out existing contracts by July 1 after weeks of fraught talks on an embargo which is likely to hurt debt-straddled EU nations such as Greece.
“Following a review of the measures the council confirmed that they would remain as approved in January,” Monday’s EU statement added.
This meant on the one hand that contracts for importing Iranian oil that were concluded before Jan. 23 “will have to be terminated by July 1.”
“From the same date, EU insurers may no more provide third-party liability and environmental liability insurance for the transport of Iranian oil,” the statement said, according to AFP.
It added that “the objective of the EU remains to achieve a comprehensive, long-term settlement on the basis of meaningful negotiations between the E3+3 (global powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S.) and Iran.”
Confirmation that the embargo will be enforced comes days after talks in Moscow between Iran and world powers on its nuclear program failed to reach a breakthrough.
Negotiators from permanent U.N. Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, last week agreed with their Iranian counterparts to stage a new expert-level meeting in Istanbul on July 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment