Mitigation on oil,financial sanctions excluded in Iran,P5+1 talks

During the talks in Alamaty the P5+1 group of international mediators did not offer Iran mitigation of sanctions on oil exports and partial lifting of financial restrictions in exchange for concessions on its nuclear programme, Reuters agency reported citing a statement by a representative of the U.S. delegation, RIA Novosti reported.

"We did not discuss the oil and banking sanctions," the official said.

Earlier on Wednesday following talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the P5+1 group offered Tehran to mitigate sanctions and not impose additional ones through the UN Security Council, if Iran suspends uranium enrichment to 20 per cent at the facility at Fordu.

Talks were held between the P5+1 group of international mediators (the U.S., Great Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) and Iran on Tuesday and Wednesday in Almaty. The United States as well as a number of other Western countries and Israel suspect Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a peaceful nuclear programme. Tehran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at meeting the country's electricity needs.

Currently, four sanction resolutions of the UN Security Council and a number of resolutions unilaterally adopted by some countries and organisations are imposed on Iran demanding it provides full transparency of its nuclear programme and prove it is exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Last year, the European Union states imposed an embargo on imports of Iranian oil which came into force on July 1, 2012. A similar package of measures against Tehran was previously introduced by Washington. In early 2013, the U.S. imposed a series of new sanctions aimed at reducing Iran's revenues from oil sales and set measures against Iran's state television company. The sanctions reduced the list of countries that can buy oil from Iran without violating the U.S. sanctions regime and hampered Tehran's access to the funds from the sale of oil abroad.


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