Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 13
By Saeed Isayev - Trend:
The spokesman for the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Michael Mann said there is need to continue talks with Iran, regarding its nuclear program.
"After 4 days of lengthy and detailed talks, reflecting the complexity of the technical issues discussed, it became clear that further work is needed," Mann told Trend.
"There will now be consultations in capitals, in the expectation that technical talks will continue soon."
Mann also said that technical talks, which were held in Vienna on 9-12 Dec., aimed at discussing the implementation details of the Joint Plan of Action agreed on 24 November 2013 in Geneva.
"There will now be consultations in capitals, in the expectation that technical talks will continue soon," Mann said.
Earlier on Dec. 13, Mehr news agency reported citing anonymous Iranian diplomatic source that country's nuclear negotiating team left the nuclear talks for Tehran, after an announcement came regarding the U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Under pressure from Congress to demonstrate that it is not easing up on sanctions on Iran's oil sector or on its nuclear and missile programs, the Obama administration on Dec. 12 announced an expanded list of companies and individuals that it said it would target to block their trading activities around the world, NY Times reported.
The move was slammed by Iran's top nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi, who said that such action damages the nuclear agreement signed by Iran and P5+1 group in Geneva.
Michael Mann declined to comment on whether the U.S. move regarding the sanctions will affect future negotiations.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.
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