Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran and the six countries are set to resume the second day of expert-level talks at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The expert-level negotiation between representatives from Iran and the six countries - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. plus Germany - launched on December 9, ahead of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA on December 11.

Director General for Political and International Affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry Hamid Ba'eedinejad heads the Iranian delegation, which includes experts from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the Central Bank as well as from other sectors facing sanctions.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that the expert-level Vienna talks are aimed at devising mechanisms to implement the interim nuclear deal struck in the Swiss city of Geneva between Iran and the six powers on November 24.

The interim deal is aimed at laying the groundwork for the full resolution of the West's decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.

In exchange for Tehran's confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the six countries agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against the country.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned that the recent nuclear deal between Iran and six major world powers will be "dead" if the U.S. imposes further sanctions against the country.

"I know the domestic complications and various issues inside the United States, but for me that is no justification. I have a parliament. My parliament can also adopt various legislations that can go into effect if negotiations fail. But if we start doing that, I don't think that we will be getting anywhere," Zarif said in his recent interview with Time magazine.

His remarks came after some members of the U.S. Congress have been discussing the idea of imposing new sanctions on Iran over the country's nuclear energy program.

U.S. President Barack Obama is dispatching two of his top diplomats to Capitol Hill this week to prevent new sanctions from being passed on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Under Secretary Wendy Sherman are going to persuade congressmen that further sanctions on Iran would only derail the current nuclear negotiations.

The United States and some of Western countries suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. Iran says it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons and is using nuclear energy for medical research instead.