Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Abbas Araqchi, said that setting a definite date for the implementation of the nuclear agreement clinched between Iran and the P5+1 countries in Geneva is contingent upon reaching a "common understanding" on outstanding issues.

"January 20 has been proposed as the date for starting to implement the Geneva nuclear deal," he said, Press TV reported.

Araqchi went on to note that the two sides need to see eye to eye on the remaining issues for the proposed date to be finalized.

Araqchi said if the sides can reach a consensus on these issues by the end of this week, the proposed January 20 date may be agreed upon.

However, he said that for the moment, the Iranian side cannot confirm whether the date would be January 20 or later.

The senior nuclear negotiator also expressed hope that major issues will be resolved in an upcoming meeting with Helga Schmid, a deputy for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Araqchi said earlier more experts would join the upcoming expert-level negotiations on the final step in the implementation of the Geneva deal.

Meanwhile, the director of theAtomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) is also hopeful about the Geneva talks between Iran and the world's six major powers over country's disputed nuclear energy program.

AEOI Director Ali Akbar Salehi said that most of the differences have been resolved and some of the remaining differences will be resolved gradually at a meeting that should be held this week.

Experts from Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - Russia, China, France, Britain and the US - plus Germany concluded their latest round of talks on December 31, which were aimed at devising a mechanism to implement the landmark interim deal reached between the two sides in the Swiss city of Geneva on November 24.

Under the Geneva deal, the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.