Iran nuke talks extension gets mixed responses

An agreement on the extension of Iranian nuclear talks shows a willingness on both sides for a comprehensive deal, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said on Sunday.

After failing to meet a July 20 deadline for a deal, international negotiators agreed to allow four more months for their high-stakes talks and let Iran access $2.8 billion of its cash frozen abroad during that period, though most sanctions against it stayed in place.

Extension of the deadline in the recent meeting between Iran and the P5+1 the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany - in Vienna conveyed this message to the world's public opinion that the two sides have the resolve for reaching a final nuclear agreement, Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran's position will not change regarding its nuclear rights enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said, expressing hope that the US would give up what he called its excessive demands in the upcoming talks.

US officials should know that if Iran and the world powers do not reach a final nuclear agreement, Teheran will revive its 20 percent uranium enrichment program, will activate Arak heavy water reactor and will install a new generation of its centrifuges, Boroujerdi said.

In the past, Iranian security officials' remarks over the country's nuclear program were almost overwhelmingly resolute, but Boroujerdi's mixed response to the recent developments bears a signal of compromise.

Israel responded skeptically to the extension of Iranian nuclear talks, saying it saw no cause for the optimism voiced by some Western diplomats.

Israel is not part of the negotiations, but wields lobbying clout in foreign capitals, given its fear of Iran gaining the means to make a bomb and its threats to launch a preemptive war if diplomacy fails. The Iranians deny seeking nuclear weaponry.

"The Israeli position was that we are not enthusiastic about an extension but that it would be better than a bad deal or a deal that is incomplete," Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for nuclear affairs, told Reuters.

Israel has demanded that Iran be stripped of all nuclear technologies with bomb-making potential - something the Islamic republic rules out and some foreign diplomats deem unrealistic.

Xinhua - Reuters