Iranian official: Closure of Fordow not on agenda

Fox News

An Iranian lawmaker told the Iranian news website Press TV that the closure of the Fordow nuclear facility is not on the agenda of the Iranian negotiators during the talks with the six world powers.

According to the official, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi has clarified to the Western powers that Tehran would not stop uranium enrichment and will not close Fordow.

The official, Mohammad Hossein Asafari, a member of Iran's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was cited by the Iranian website as saying that the decision on the acceptance of the Additional Protocol, which allows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to hold flash inspections of nuclear plants, is for the Iranian parliament to make.

Talks between Iran and the five world powers and Germany (PF+1) ended last week with the decision to return to the negotiation table on November 7. The White House stated as the talks were over that the Iranian offer was "the most serious yet," and the European Union's foreign minister said that her staff are examining it closely.

On Sunday, Iran's President Hassan Rohani said in a cabinet meeting that "the Zionist regime's hostile stance and its attempts to sabotage the understandings between the two sides will lead to its isolation."

Rohani's statements echoed similar ones made by his foreign minister, Mohamad Javad Zarif, who accused Israel of trying to undermine attempts to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear program. The Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Rohani claimed experience shows that every time the Islamic Republic made headway on the international arena, "The Zionists launched sabotage efforts in Iran and out of it."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave an interview for the NBC network and warned that Iran is agreeing to a partial dismantlement of its nuclear program only to dissolve the sanctions imposed on it.

"They're trying to give a partial deal that they know could end up dissolving the sanctions regime and would keep them with the nuclear weapons capabilities."

"Any partial deal could end up in dissolving the sanctions," Netanyahu stressed. His remarks follow reports regarding the Iranian proposal during the last round of talks in Geneva, and the American willingness to free frozen Iranian assets in the US, worth billions of dollars.