Iran and US Have "Deep and Serious" Differences, but Have "Reached a Turning Point"

[Financial News]  
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Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on the 22nd local time that a final agreement with the United States has not yet been reached. He added that it is even difficult to say whether an agreement could be reached "within weeks or months." Iran's position that it will never accept the removal of enriched uranium, a key obstacle in the ceasefire talks, appears to remain at odds with Washington.
The spokesperson's rebuttal came shortly after Bloomberg News reported, citing the semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), that the two sides had narrowed some of their differences thanks to a US proposal.
Al Jazeera, citing a report by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baghaei stated that the differences between Iran and the US are "deep and serious."
He said, "We are not in a position to say that we have reached the level where an agreement is possible." He added, "The talks are focused on ending the war, and detailed discussions on the nuclear issue are not taking place at this stage."
US President Donald Trump has said the war can end only if Iran moves all enriched uranium abroad and abandons its nuclear weapons program.
Iran, however, says it can never accept handing over highly enriched uranium to the United States.
According to IRNA, Baghaei said, "If we try to dig too deeply into the details of Iran's highly enriched uranium, we will never reach a conclusion, or an agreement."
He also said the Qatari delegation is currently in Tehran for talks with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, while Pakistan is continuing to mediate the negotiations. He described the current talks as having reached a "turning point."
"The current process and the fact that senior Pakistani officials are staying in Tehran mean that we have reached a turning point, or a critical situation," he said.
Baghaei stressed that the reason detailed nuclear discussions cannot move forward is clear. "We reached an agreement twice in the past, but the other side's greed led us to war," he said. "We cannot ignore that experience."
He also said the position on nuclear issues is very clear. "We are a member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and we have the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," he said.
The remarks are understood to mean that Iran, as an NPT member, has the right to peaceful nuclear use, and that it has no choice but to approach detailed nuclear negotiations cautiously because the US has previously undermined past agreements.
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dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter